Choose what
matters first

Organize competing requests into an attention queue, test an RFP recommendation against its pivotal assumption, and save a retrievable decision record.

Elena & Maya cases

Attention queue (Lectures 3.1–3.2)

01 / 04

Elena’s 4 incoming items separated into decisions needing the leader, prepared drafts ready to inspect, and work waiting on others—ranked by consequence of delay rather than urgency stamps.

Queue group	Item & source	Consequence & priority order	Owner & return rule
1. Decisions needing Elena (#1 Priority)	Peer director request to borrow senior engineer Dev for 3 days	High consequence: Dev is lead engineer for Friday’s committed client release; lending Dev delays the release.	Elena · Address first today
1. Decisions needing Elena (#2 Priority)	Internal formatting request (stamped “Urgent — Due Noon”)	Low consequence: Needs Elena’s approval because it changes the department’s report template; no client or delivery impact if decided tomorrow.	Elena · Handle after Dev decision
2. Prepared drafts ready to inspect	Horizon account progress update draft from yesterday’s check-in	Ready for inspection; no open decision blocking the team.	Elena · Scheduled 3 p.m. review batch
3. Work waiting on others	Cloud supplier Q4 tier pricing confirmation	Waiting on vendor finance reply (expected Wednesday).	Vendor · Return immediately only if commitment is threatened

Option comparison (Lecture 3.3)

02 / 04

Maya’s evaluation of the Meridian Manufacturing 6-week data migration RFP after correcting the plan to check senior integration specialist time instead of total headcount. Both specialists are committed to another client’s launch planned to run into weeks 3 and 4.

Option	Capacity & delivery fit	Pivotal assumption / risk
Option 1: Full 6-week scope	Needs both senior integration specialists free for Meridian in weeks 3 and 4.	Pivotal assumption: Viable only if the other client’s launch finishes early, by day 10 (end of week 2), with zero spillover. Too risky given the unconfirmed vendor testing schedule.
Option 2: Narrower phased scope (Chosen)	Core data setup in weeks 1–4; custom ERP integration moves to week 5 (20 specialist hours).	Manageable condition: Protects active client launch while winning Meridian relationship; requires verifying 20 specialist hours in week 5.
Option 3: Decline to bid	Zero capacity strain.	Forfeits strategic manufacturing account unnecessarily when phased start is viable.

Saved decision record (Lecture 3.4)

03 / 04

Saved in the Meridian Proposal project after Maya checks the first draft for two common mistakes (the narrower phased scope must be the confirmed choice, and week-5 specialist hours must stay the fact still to confirm). The draft passes both checks, so Maya approves it without corrections.

Meridian Proposal / decision-record-meridian-rfp.md

Confirmed bid scope decision

Confirmed choice: Propose the narrower phased scope (core setup in weeks 1–4; custom integration in week 5).
Reasons & tradeoff: Protects our active client launch commitment while accepting a smaller initial contract value.
Alternatives considered: Full 6-week scope (rejected because it depends on the other launch finishing by day 10); declining to bid (rejected).
Fact still to confirm (before signature): Confirm 20 hours of senior integration specialist availability in week 5 with the engineering lead.
Condition that reopens full scope: If written confirmation arrives before the bid is due on Friday, October 9, at 5 p.m. that the active client launch has passed final testing early enough to free both specialists by day 10, reopen the full 6-week scope option.

Four-part tradeoff explanation (Lecture 3.5)

04 / 04

At the midpoint checkpoint, compare a raw AI summary with the 4-part leadership explanation you can now give colleagues.

The 4 parts of a trustworthy decision explanation

1. Confirmed choice: We are proposing the narrower phased scope for Meridian Manufacturing.

2. Protected commitment & accepted tradeoff: We protect our existing client launch commitment while accepting a smaller initial bid.

3. Fact still to confirm: We are still verifying 20 hours of senior integration specialist capacity for week 5 before contract signature.

4. Condition that reopens full scope: If we receive written confirmation, before the bid is due on Friday, October 9, at 5 p.m., that the active client launch has passed final testing early enough to free both specialists by day 10, we will reopen the full 6-week scope.