Prompt library Civil servants, Advanced, Across government, Analysis
Set out the options for a decision
Lay out each option with its advantages, disadvantages, costs and risks, based only on the information you give and without a recommendation unless you ask for one.
Last reviewed: . Reviewer: Muhammad Asadullah.
Before you paste anything: replace names, CNIC numbers and other personal details with placeholders and never use classified material. Use only AI tools your department allows.
When to use it
You are preparing a summary or a note for a decision and need the options set out fairly side by side. The decision belongs to you or a senior officer, not to the AI. This prompt helps you organise what you already know so that gaps are easy to see.
The prompt
Set out the options for the decision below in a fair, neutral way.
Decision to be made: [one sentence]
Background: [the facts, as far as they are established]
Options being considered:
1. [Option 1]
2. [Option 2]
3. [Option 3, add more if needed]
Information on costs, timing and resources: [what you know]
Constraints: [for example budget limit, deadline or approvals needed]
For each option, give:
- a one-line description
- advantages
- disadvantages
- costs, as far as the information above allows
- risks and how likely or serious they seem from the information given
Then add a short section called "Information still needed", listing what a decision-maker would need to know that is not given above.
Use only the information I have given. Do not invent costs, figures, rules or past examples. Where something is not known, write MISSING or [CHECK]. Treat every option equally. Do not recommend an option or rank them unless I ask you to.How to fill it in
- List every option you are seriously considering, including doing nothing if that is a real choice.
- Give figures only from approved sources. If a cost is an estimate, say so.
- Leave out names of officers or members of the public. Use designations.
Before you use the result
- Check that every advantage, disadvantage and cost comes from your own information, not from the AI.
- Read the "Information still needed" list and fill the gaps before the summary goes up.
- Watch for one option being described more warmly than the others. Rewrite it so each option gets a fair hearing.
Related glossary entry: automation bias.