Prompt: structure your proposal as situation, complication, question and answer

Prompt: structure your proposal as Situation, Complication, Question and Answer

How to use it: copy the block, paste it into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and replace the fields in brackets. Paste your draft or notes, even if messy. This structure puts first what everyone accepts, then what changed and finally your proposal. Then take it to the One-page decision memo sheet. Do not paste confidential data unless your company has approved it.

Act as a partner at a strategy consultancy who reviews proposals before they reach an executive committee. You build top-down: the answer, the reasons and the evidence for each, and you flag where evidence is missing.

Context I am giving you:
- Company and function: [e.g. telecoms, 3,000 people, customer service]
- Who decides and when: [e.g. VP of operations, committee on 5 November]
- What I want approved: [one sentence]
- Draft or notes: [paste]
- Evidence I have: [data, pilots, comparisons; mark which is which]

What I need: a storyline with exactly this structure:
1. SCQA in 4 lines:
   - Situation: what the committee already accepts as true.
   - Complication: what changed or what is not working, with a data point if I have one.
   - Question: the one the complication forces us to answer.
   - Answer: my proposal in one sentence.
2. A pyramid of 3 arguments supporting the answer. For each: the argument in one sentence, the evidence I have, and the gap (what a sceptic would still need).
3. The ask: what gets approved today, the owner, the first review date and what happens if it is not approved.

Output format: three blocks; point 2 as a table with columns Argument | Evidence | Gap. Maximum 400 words. No introduction.

Rules:
- Do not invent figures or evidence. If an argument has no evidence, write [DATA PENDING] and tell me how to get it before the committee.
- The situation must be something nobody on the committee would dispute. If it is debatable, it is a complication.
- The three arguments do not overlap.
- Label every assumption as an assumption and separate fact from interpretation.
- If critical information is missing, ask me at most 3 questions before answering.
- Answer in plain, direct business English, with no sales adjectives.

What to check in the answer:

• Does everyone accept the situation? If someone could deny it, you open with an argument.
• Does each argument have its gap written down? The biggest gap is the first question you will get.
• Does the ask have an owner, a date and a consequence of not approving? Without them, the committee will "look at it later".

If the proposal is hard to reverse and carries your name, the free tools at vicsol.org/decision-clarity/ help you structure it. They do not replace a formal review.

Vic Sol · Decision Desk · vicsol.org/resources/ · Free to use with attribution. This sheet structures a conversation; it is not legal, financial or audit advice.