decision-support-analysis

name	decision-support-analysis
description	Use when research must support a decision, recommendation, investment, policy choice, product bet, go/no-go call, prioritization, or executive memo. Encodes decision framing, alternatives, values, uncertainty, tradeoffs, pre-mortem, and commitment quality gates.
metadata	{"portable":true,"compatible_with":["claude-code","codex"]}

Decision Support Analysis

Use When

• Use when the output must help someone choose, prioritize, fund, stop, launch, regulate, buy, sell, hire, partner, litigate, or investigate further.
• Use for decision memos, recommendation reports, options papers, board papers, feasibility studies, and executive briefs.
• Use after critical-reasoning-and-argument and before executive-communication.

Do Not Use When

• The user only needs a descriptive research brief with no choice or recommendation.
• A binding legal, regulatory, or institutional template controls the decision form.

Required Inputs

• Decision owner, deadline, decision rights, options, constraints, success criteria, values, risks, and evidence base.
• Non-negotiables, budget/time limits, excluded options, and implementation capacity.
• Source manifest and reasoning map for all load-bearing claims.

Workflow

1. Define the decision: owner, timing, irreversible elements, and default path.
2. Frame success: objectives, values, constraints, and disqualifiers.
3. Widen options: include the base case, at least two live alternatives, and a wait option when realistic.
4. Map evidence to options: what supports, weakens, or is unknown for each option.
5. Test uncertainty through calibration and tradecraft companion skills.
6. Run tradeoff analysis: benefits, costs, risks, reversibility, option value, implementation friction, and stakeholder incentives.
7. Pre-mortem the preferred option and name kill criteria.
8. State the recommendation, dissenting view, decision ask, next actions, owner, and review date.

Quality Standards

• The real decision is visible in the first page or opening section.
• Options are live choices, not straw alternatives.
• Criteria are weighted or at least ordered by importance.
• Recommendation strength matches evidence strength and uncertainty.
• Implementation reality is part of the decision, not an appendix.

Anti-Patterns

• Recommendation without options.
• Options without criteria.
• Criteria chosen after the preferred answer is known.
• Risk register with no owner, trigger, or mitigation.
• "More research" as a recommendation without specifying the decision it unlocks.

Outputs

• Decision frame.
• Options matrix.
• Tradeoff and uncertainty table.
• Recommendation with dissent, pre-mortem, next actions, and review trigger.

Evidence Produced

Category	Artifact	Format	Example
Correctness	Decision frame	Markdown table	Owner, decision, deadline, criteria
Release evidence	Options matrix	Markdown table	Option, evidence, risks, tradeoffs, recommendation

References

• Load references/decision-frame.md for framing and options templates.
• Load references/options-and-tradeoffs.md for quality gates and anti-patterns.

Companion Skills

• research-output-formats or analytical-report-shapes selects the deliverable form.
• executive-communication turns the tested decision logic into a board-ready artifact.
• calibration-and-forecasting handles probability and uncertainty.
• knowledge-productization packages reusable decision frameworks.