Writing Effective Decision Context

Better context leads to better AI analysis. Learn the 5 essential elements and see real-world examples.

The 5 Essential Elements

Include these in every decision for the best AI guidance

1. Clear Problem Statement

What exactly needs to be decided?

2. Current Situation

Where are we now and why does this matter?

3. Constraints

Budget, timeline, resources, regulations?

4. Stakeholders

Who decides, contributes, or is affected?

5. Success Criteria

How will we know if this was right?

Real-World Examples

See how adding more detail improves AI analysis. Each example shows progression from Poor to Best across different decision types.

Technology Stack Decision

Choosing between React and Vue for a customer portal rewrite

Poor Context

Too vague - AI cannot provide useful guidance

Should we use React or Vue?

Good Context

Includes basic problem, constraints, stakeholders

Should we use React or Vue for our new web application?

Our team has 3 frontend developers with varying experience. We need to launch in 6 months. Budget: $50K for development.

Best Context

Comprehensive with all 5 elements, alternatives, and success criteria

Should we use React or Vue.js for our customer portal rewrite, launching Q2 2026?

CURRENT SITUATION: Existing jQuery portal (5 years old), 10,000 DAU, 60% mobile. Customer feedback: 3.2/5 rating.

WHY NOW: Competitor launched modern portal, losing 2 customers/week. Major client threatened to churn.

STAKEHOLDERS: VP Engineering (owner), CTO (approver), 3 frontend devs, DevOps, UX designer

CONSTRAINTS: Must launch by June 1 (6 months). Budget: $50K dev + $5K/month hosting. Must support IE11 (15% users).

ALTERNATIVES: React (industry standard, team experience) vs Vue (easier learning curve, smaller bundle)

SUCCESS: Launch on time, <2s load, improve rating to 4.5+, junior devs productive in 3 weeks

Red Flags to Avoid

Too vague: “Should we grow faster?” (How? Where? By when?)

Missing constraints: “Should we build X?” (Budget? Timeline? Who?)

No stakeholders: “Should we change pricing?” (Who approves? Who is affected?)

No alternatives: Only one option described

No success criteria: How will you know if it worked?