Build an output contract
Use the first 60 to 90 seconds to complete this grid:
| Field | Question |
|---|---|
| Role | Who am I in the scenario? |
| Audience | Who will hear this and what do they know? |
| Decision | What must the audience decide, approve, understand, or do? |
| Tasks | What distinct outputs are requested? |
| Scope | Which topics, period, population, or options are included? |
| Exclusions | What must I not use or discuss? |
| Time | Preparation, presentation, and Q&A limits? |
| Materials | What notes, documents, or visual aids are allowed? |
| Competencies | Which behaviours are named or strongly implied? |
| Date | What is "today" in the fictional scenario? |
This output contract becomes the test for every note. If information does not help deliver the contract, it is secondary.
Command verbs
| Verb | Required operation | Common failure |
|---|---|---|
| Summarise / give an overview | Select and organise main facts without unnecessary judgment | Listing every document |
| Describe | Explain what exists or happened | Adding recommendations not requested |
| Compare | Show meaningful similarities and differences using shared dimensions | Giving separate mini-summaries with no comparison |
| Analyse | Explain relationships, causes, implications, tensions, or patterns | Repeating facts |
| Assess / evaluate | Apply criteria and reach a reasoned judgment | Saying "good" or "bad" without criteria |
| Prioritise | Rank items and explain order | Calling everything urgent |
| Recommend / advise | Choose action and justify it | Offering an unranked menu |
| Propose a compromise | Protect core interests while requiring reciprocal movement | Choosing the arithmetic midpoint |
| Develop an implementation plan | Define actions, owner, sequence, timing, resources, risks, and monitoring | Restating policy goals |
| Brief / persuade | Adapt detail and framing to audience decision needs | Delivering a generic lecture |
Convert tasks into answer slots
Suppose the assignment asks you to:
- •identify the main operational problems;
- •compare two delivery models;
- •recommend a way forward.
Create exactly three core sections. Do not let an interesting stakeholder controversy consume time needed for the recommendation.
Write a task budget beside each slot. Example for eight minutes:
- •Opening and bottom line: 0:40.
- •Problems: 1:40.
- •Options: 2:00.
- •Recommendation and delivery: 3:10.
- •Close: 0:30.
Audience analysis
Ask four questions:
- What decision can this audience make?
- What detail will they need to defend that decision?
- Which risks will concern them most?
- What vocabulary and level of technicality fit them?
A head of unit needs a recommended action, resource implications, and escalation points. A political office may need stakeholder impact and public defensibility. A technical panel may need methodology and assumptions. The same facts require different emphasis.
Role discipline
Do not grant yourself authority the scenario does not give.
Use graduated language:
- •"I recommend that the director approve..."
- •"I would ask Legal Service to validate..."
- •"Subject to budget confirmation..."
- •"I would escalate the unresolved data-protection issue..."
- •"Within my role, I would coordinate..."
Role discipline shows judgment, not passivity.