Six questions for any consequential decision
Every RavenArc piece, whether it is about an acquisition, an AI programme or an IPL auction, comes back to the same six questions. We publish them so that readers can use them too.
- 01
Frame the decision
What exactly is being decided, by when, and what is out of scope? Most stalled decisions are really two or three decisions tangled together. Separate them, and name the one on the table.
- 02
Size the stakes
What changes if the choice is right, if it is wrong, and if it is not made at all? Waiting is an option with a price, and it belongs on the list. The cost-of-delay calculator puts a number on it.
- 03
Map real alternatives
What are the genuinely different courses of action, including doing nothing and doing a smaller version first? Two options usually means one real option and a straw man.
- 04
Surface the assumptions
What must be true for the preferred option to work, and which of those assumptions would hurt most if wrong? Test the few that carry the weight, not all of them. Look hard at the economics: where value is created, where it is captured and when it arrives.
- 05
Set signposts and triggers
Which unknowns actually matter, what evidence would change the answer, and what will you do when it appears? Agree the triggers in advance so the organisation can move without reopening the whole debate. Prefer moves that keep future options open.
- 06
Assign decision rights
Who decides, who is consulted, who executes, and who can stop the move? Many good decisions fail here, in ownership that is shared by everyone and therefore held by no one.
How we use it
The method is a checklist, not a formula. It does not produce the answer; it makes sure the right argument is had before the answer is chosen. Our articles apply it to one subject at a time: scenario planning is question five in depth, AI as an operating-model question is question six, and the IPL auction runs through all six.