A decision memo is the result of a quick scan: a short memo that lets management take a decision on one AI application. No deck, no prototype, no sixty-page report.
What goes in it
The memo always follows the same structure, so you can lay it next to a previous one.
- The decision in one sentence, as fixed during the intake.
- The value: what changes if it works, for whom, and how you will see it.
- The risk: what can go wrong, how likely that is, and what it costs when it does.
- The feasibility: what the organisation needs in people, data and agreements, and whether that is in place.
- The recommendation: go, no-go, or go with conditions, with the conditions spelled out.
- The pilot plan on a go: scope, who takes it over internally, and when the next decision falls.
What stays out
No comparison of twelve tools. No roadmap to 2030. No figures we can’t back up. If a figure is missing, the memo says so and says how to get it.
Who it is for
For the people who decide: an executive committee, a town council’s executive board, a management team. It is written to be read without us in the room. That is a deliberate choice: a memo a consultant has to explain is not a memo but a dependency.
How it comes about
A quick scan takes one use case through a fixed lead time. We talk to the people who do the work and the people who decide, we look at the data and systems already in place, and we write the memo. After that it is up to you. Read more about the steps in the approach.