Series K
The framing of one single decision: options, assumptions, risks and a recommendation, in a short format a board reads in full. The density of a study, the length of a note.
These notes often build on an industry reading and lead to an operational action plan.
Specimen · Strategic note
The right questions
A strategic note covers one decision, exactly one. That is its constraint, and its strength.
Anatomy
Hover or tap the numbered markers: each part of the deliverable reveals itself with its function.
The question the note settles, stated without ambiguity from the first line.
Only the facts that weigh on the decision: five minutes of reading, no courtesy history.
Each option with its consequences, costs, risks and success conditions, on equal footing.
The chosen option, the reasoning that leads to it and the assumptions that would weaken it.
What must happen in the following weeks if the recommendation is adopted.
How it's built
Brevity is not improvised: it is manufactured by disciplined elimination of everything that does not serve the decision.
One question, one decision-maker, one deadline: the framing fits in three lines.
The full space of possible choices, including the status quo, described without bias.
Each option tested against the data and the real constraints.
The note trimmed until every paragraph is indispensable.
Typical contents
A typical contents page, adapted to your question. Every section exists for a decision, never for thickness.
Standards
Three guarantees, valid for every item in the collection.
The format is constrained by construction: a board reads it in full before the meeting. Density replaces thickness.
The discarded options are presented as fairly as the recommended one. A note that steers by cheating is worthless.
The invalidation conditions of the recommendation are written in black and white. You know when to change your mind.
Commission
One sentence is enough to start: the decision, its deadline and who takes it. We frame the note from there.