A decision belongs on a card, not in a report

A decision belongs on a card, not in a report.

When an agent needs something from a person, the request often gets lost in the same place: somewhere inside a long message. On page two, between the explanation and the results. The reader senses that a decision is needed, but cannot tell exactly what, and puts it aside for later.

Later never comes.

That is why every question an agent asks me has a fixed shape. Not a report with a question buried in it, but a card:

1. One question, phrased so I can answer yes or no.
2. What happens if I say yes. Specifically, what work can continue?
3. What happens if I say no. Just as specifically.
4. A recommendation, and the reason for it.
5. What happens if nobody answers. Because that is a decision too, even if nobody made it.

That fifth point is new to many people. A question with no default outcome can block work without anyone noticing. If you write down in advance what happens after three days of silence, the agent can keep working and I can take a day off without worry.

I have added two more habits:

One question at a time. Not ten questions in one message. Faced with ten things to decide, someone will think carefully about one and rush through the other nine. I get the next question once the previous one has an answer.

Put larger sets on one page. When there are many choices, they belong on a page where I can select an option or add a note for each item. WhatsApp is for a single question at a time. Send a stack of decisions in a chat and you get a stack of replies to piece back together.

The result: the agent does not have to guess what I mean, and I do not have to guess what it needs. That mostly saves frustration. A lot of delay in an organisation does not come from a difficult decision, but from nobody being sure that a decision was needed in the first place.

You do not need AI for this. It works for any handover: between colleagues, with a supplier, or with an intern. Put the question first, explain what happens after yes and after no, and say what you will do if you hear nothing.

Which question has been waiting for an answer for a week, and does the other person even know it is a question?

#AIagents #DecisionMaking #Workflows #Collaboration

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