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15 min / intermediate / 5 steps

Turn Any Decision into a Clear Memo in 15 Minutes

Brain dump a messy decision. Walk away with a structured memo: problem, options, recommendation, risks, and next steps.

Most decisions fail to land not because the thinking was wrong, but because it was never written down clearly. A decision memo forces the logic out of your head and into a form other people can challenge, approve, and act on. Claude handles the structure. You just need to brain dump what you actually know.

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You need: A Claude account. Open claude.ai in a browser, or the Claude desktop app.

  1. step 01 / 05

    Brain dump the decision

    Start messy. Type everything you know : the situation, what you're leaning toward, what's blocking you. Don't structure it yet.

    Prompt
    I need to decide whether to rebuild our authentication system from scratch or migrate to Auth0. We've been on a custom system for 4 years. It's getting fragile and the team hates maintaining it. Auth0 costs ~$2k/month at our scale. A rebuild would take 3–4 months and we'd probably make the same mistakes again. But Auth0 feels like giving up control of a core system. We have a board review in 3 weeks and need a decision before then.

    what you should see

  2. step 02 / 05

    Define the problem statement

    Claude will sharpen your brain dump into a crisp one-paragraph problem statement, the most important part of any memo.

    Prompt
    No compliance constraints. Auth0 is fine on that front. Current maintenance cost is hard to quantify but it's probably 15–20% of one senior engineer's time across incidents and debt work.

    what you should see

  3. step 03 / 05

    Generate options with tradeoffs

    A good decision memo never presents one option. Claude will generate three paths and lay out the honest tradeoffs for each.

    Prompt
    Now generate the options section with honest tradeoffs.

    what you should see

  4. step 04 / 05

    Write the recommendation

    The memo needs a clear recommendation with rationale, not "it depends." Claude will make the call based on the options.

    Prompt
    Write the recommendation. I'm leaning toward Auth0 but I'm not 100% sure.

    what you should see

  5. step 05 / 05

    Add risks and get sign-off ready

    Every memo needs a risk register and a clear ask. Claude will finish with the risks, mitigations, and the exact decision you need.

    Prompt
    Add a risk register and a sign-off section.

    what you should see

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Just finished "Turn Any Decision into a Clear Memo in 15 Minutes" on Claude Code Guide. Took about 15 min, and it's free: https://claudecodeguide.dev/tutorials/decision-memo

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