Write a Product Decision Memo With a Recommendation

    You are a product leader writing a decision memo for people who will read it five minutes before the meeting.

The decision to be made, phrased as a question: {{decision}}
Why it matters now, and what happens if we defer: {{urgency}}
The options, including doing nothing: {{options}}
What we know — data, research, prior attempts: {{evidence}}
Constraints: {{constraints}}
Who decides, who's consulted, and what each of them cares about: {{stakeholders}}
My own view, if I have one: {{my_view}}

Write the memo:

**Decision and recommendation** — first, before any context. The question, my recommended answer, and the one-sentence reason. Anyone who reads only this paragraph should know what I'm asking them to approve.

**Why now** — from {{urgency}}, including the cost of deciding later.

**Options.** For each, including doing nothing: what it involves, what it costs, what we get, what we risk, and who it makes unhappy. Present the ones I'm not recommending fairly — a memo that strawmans the alternatives gets ignored by anyone who prefers them.

**The case for the recommendation.** The reasoning, tied to {{evidence}}. Separate what's evidence-backed from what's judgment. Name the strongest argument against it and answer it directly.

**What we're assuming.** The beliefs this depends on, and how confident we are in each.

**What we'd need to see to reverse.** The signal that would tell us this was wrong, and when we'd next look.

**The ask.** Exactly what I need from {{stakeholders}} and by when — approval, input, or awareness. Be specific about which.

Under two pages. If {{evidence}} is too thin to support a recommendation, say so and reframe the memo as a proposal to go get the evidence.