AI Agents for Leaders Who Have No Time to Learn AI · Section 3 · Prepared example

Priorities and Decisions, a Prepared Example

The page the lectures open: what needs Elena first, the assumption behind the Meridian bid, and the record that keeps the reason.

Arun Nagarathanam · 20 Oct 2026 Template · 22 of 42 in this course

Section 3 · Lectures 3.2 to 3.5

About this page

Prepared fictional example. Elena, Dev, Maya and Meridian Manufacturing are invented for this course. The queue, comparison and record are authored teaching material, not output from an observed agent run.

This is the text of the priorities and decisions page shown in Section 3. The same page, with its four tabs, is in the starter zip as practice/priorities-and-decisions.html.

Files and links

Open the interactive priorities and decisions page/downloads/leaders/section-03/priorities-and-decisions.html
Elena and Meridian case files: the sources it was prepared from/resources/library/leaders/elena-and-meridian-decision-files

Tab 01 · Lectures 3.1 and 3.2

Attention queue

Elena’s 4 incoming items, separated into decisions needing the leader, prepared drafts ready to inspect, and work waiting on others. The decisions are ranked by consequence of delay, not by urgency stamps.

Elena’s attention queue

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

Tab 02 · Lecture 3.3

Option comparison

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.

Three options for the Meridian bid

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.

Tab 03 · Lecture 3.4

Saved decision record

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.

File · decision-record-meridian-rfp.md

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.

Saved in the Meridian Proposal project folder

Tab 04 · Lecture 3.5

Four-part tradeoff explanation

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

Part	In plain language
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.