AI Decision Memo Builder

Decisions often stall because the logic is scattered across chat threads, meeting transcripts, and messy notes. This skill converts raw project context into a professional, decision-ready memo that allows stakeholders to approve, reject, or challenge a recommendation in minutes.

What it does

• Extracts briefs by identifying decision owners, deadlines, options, and constraints from disorganized input.
• Builds comparison tables that evaluate multiple real options against consistent criteria like budget and risk.
• Surface trade-offs to ensure the recommended path is presented alongside its costs and potential downsides.
• Identifies gaps by marking missing data, names, or figures as assumptions rather than inventing facts.
• Adapts formats ranging from 100-word executive summaries to 1,000-word deep dives for high-stakes choices.

How it works

1. Input analysis: Provide a transcript, note, or draft, and the skill identifies the core decision and stakeholders.
2. Gap handling: The skill makes professional assumptions for minor gaps or asks up to three targeted questions for critical missing data.
3. Drafting: It generates a structured memo including a BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front), analysis, and risk mitigations.
4. Refinement: Use specific modes like "Review" to critique existing drafts or "Adapt" to turn a memo into a Slack message.

Frameworks & tools

This skill is platform-agnostic and designed for use within LLM environments like Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor. It outputs standard Markdown compatible with GitHub, Notion, and Slack.

Why this beats prompting it yourself

Standard prompts often produce generic summaries or "straw man" arguments that lean too hard into a favorite option. This skill enforces strict neutrality, mandates the inclusion of a "do nothing" option, and uses a structured quality check to ensure trade-offs and risks are never buried.

Use cases

• Vendor selection: Comparing software tools against budget, security, and feature sets.
• Build vs. Buy: Documenting the logic for developing internal tools versus licensing third-party tech.
• Hiring decisions: Summarizing candidate evaluations for a final "go/no-go" from leadership.
• Strategic pivots: Justifying changes in product direction or budget reallocations to a board.

Known limitations

Does not provide professional legal, tax, or medical advice. Requires user-provided data as it will not search external databases or invent missing financial figures.