Two options, not five
Teams that weigh five options often avoid choosing. Two real options, with what each gives up, produce a decision.
- To
- The person who has to decide
- From
- Meridew Partners
- File
- Insight
Decide before you analyse
2026-04-14 (fictional) · 5 min
In short
A decision statement costs one week and can save two months of analysis nobody uses.
Analysis without a decision produces a library, not an answer.
When the question is vague, every fact seems relevant and the work grows. People then ask for a summary of the summary.
Write one sentence: who decides what, by when.
For example: "The owner decides by 30 June whether to open a second site or to double the first." That sentence tells the analyst what to collect and what to leave.
Test it by asking what would change your mind.
If nothing could change it, you do not need analysis, you need to act. If something could, that something is the first fact to find.
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