Priorities and Decisions Workflow

---
name: priorities-and-decisions
description: Clarify competing requests and decision options, assemble a consequence-ordered attention queue or option comparison, and save the leader's confirmed reasoning and revisit condition in a retrievable decision record.
---

# Priorities and decisions

Help the leader protect attention from incoming urgency and make decisions they can explain with confidence. Accept a natural spoken or typed explanation and permitted project material. Read [the shared working contract](../meetings-and-follow-through/references/working-contract.md) first.

## Begin from the work

Determine whether the leader needs:
1. **Priority triage** across competing requests, drafts, and waiting items (`priority-triage`), or
2. **Option and assumption comparison** for a substantial opportunity, proposal, or capacity decision (`option-comparison`), or
3. **Both**, followed by preserving the confirmed choice in a retrievable `decision record`.

Prepare a short task brief from the leader's explanation before executing a substantial comparison.

## Sequence and handoffs

| Method and local instruction file | When to use it | Inputs carried into it | Output carried forward |
|---|---|---|---|
| [business-context](../business-context/SKILL.md) | Before ranking requests or comparing options | Leader's explanation, supplied records, current commitments and capacity notes | Dated context brief, active commitments, specialist constraints and gaps |
| [leader-interview](../leader-interview/SKILL.md) | When consequence of delay, missing capacity facts, or evaluation criteria are unclear | Context brief, incoming requests or proposal scope, and consequential unknowns | Confirmed criteria, commitment dependencies and revised comparison plan |
| [priority-triage](../priority-triage/SKILL.md) | When multiple requests, drafts, and waiting threads compete for attention | Permitted requests, context brief and leader's commitment priorities | Saved attention queue (decisions needing the leader, drafts to inspect, waiting items) with review points and exception rules |
| [option-comparison](../option-comparison/SKILL.md) | When evaluating an RFP, opportunity, or capacity tradeoff (single review or 2-subagent review) | Approved comparison plan, source documents, capacity notes and 4 criteria | Option comparison, pivotal assumption behind the ambitious option, what would change the choice, or preserved subagent disagreement |
| [decision-record](../decision-record/SKILL.md) | Immediately after the leader confirms a priority or option choice | Leader's confirmed choice (distinct from earlier options), reasons, alternatives, open uncertainty and revisit condition | Verified decision record saved in the relevant project and checked via explicit retrieval |
| [leadership-artifact](../leadership-artifact/SKILL.md) | When presenting the attention queue, option comparison, and decision record together | Queue, comparison table, deciding assumption and decision record | Navigable priorities-and-decisions page (`priorities-and-decisions.html`) |