Your decision and quarterly plan
Start here: Choose a decision or a goal. Run the complete fictional request below, check the arithmetic and try the changed fact. Only then fill the card with what affected your own choice.
Use the decision card for a choice, or the goal card for an improvement you have already chosen. The complete practice below teaches the difference; neither requires a school-wide reference.
Make these instructions your own
Choose the job first. Copy a request below, or say: “Help me with [job]. I want [useful result]. Ask one question at a time, follow up on my answers and read back what you understood before drafting.” Speak naturally; typing is optional.
Replace brackets with relevant facts, dates and constraints. If you do not know a detail, say so. Read the answer against your notes or source, name a specific correction and ask for a revision. Keep the useful request with the context the next conversation will need.
Use fictional or approved nonpersonal material. Personal projects belong in separate conversations from your school's reference. You decide what is sent, purchased or adopted.
Start with the included first lesson (opens in a new tab) for a practical introduction to prompting and follow-up. Team AI use, effort log and source list (opens in a new tab) are included in this kit; no other course resources are required.
One-page decision memo: Lesson 1 (opens in a new tab)
Decision and why it matters:
People affected, by role:
Confirmed facts and sources:
Assumptions still to check:
Options: proceed / smaller pilot / stay as we are:
Benefits, cost and risk of each:
What could make each option fail:
People or qualified reviewers to consult:
Smallest useful next step and measure:
Decision owner / review point / reason to reconsider:
Example: try weekly ordering in one department for two weeks. Agree who reviews it, how urgent requests work and how missed or duplicate requests will be counted. Compare with the current process before claiming improvement; a favorable AI assessment is not evidence of savings.
Quarterly plan: Lesson 2 (opens in a new tab)
Start with one useful goal. Record purpose; measure and definition; source report; baseline or UNKNOWN; owner-approved target; responsible role; first three actions; capacity; review date. Add a “not this quarter” list.
Weekly review: What changed? What is the next action? What obstacle needs a decision? Do not rewrite the baseline to make progress appear better.
Copy this card once for each goal:
Quarter and goal:
The school experience this improves:
Measure and exact definition:
Source and period:
Baseline, or UNKNOWN:
Proposed target: owner must decide:
Role responsible and capacity confirmed:
First action:
Second action:
Third action:
What must wait or stop to make room:
Weekly review question:
Next review and decision owner:
Filled fictional example: improve educator preparation; inspect six demonstration outlines for a learning goal, required materials and supervised practice time. The practice baseline is two complete outlines out of six. The Education Director proposes filling the missing elements, checks the lesson’s worked estimate (four revisions at 20 minutes plus 20 minutes for review) against a 45-minute weekly allowance and has an educator try one outline. The estimated 100 minutes extends into a third week before any buffer. This measures whether the preparation material contains the essentials; it does not by itself prove better teaching or student learning.
Work through the planning lesson (opens in a new tab) before substituting your own approved facts.
Complete practice you can copy
Help me decide how to reduce last-minute supply orders at a fictional
beauty school. We currently place three orders a week; each takes
20 minutes including approval. A single weekly order would take
30 minutes plus a 15-minute stock check. We have not measured
rush fees, shortages or delivery reliability. Operations can run
a two-week trial, but the owner approves any supplier change.
Compare current vs proposed weekly ordering time. Identify the
strongest reason the trial might fail, what to measure and a small
next step. Do not claim savings beyond these supplied estimates
or recommend a supplier contract.
Check 60 minutes now versus an estimated 45 minutes proposed. If stock checking rises to 35 minutes, the proposal becomes 65 minutes and exceeds the current estimate by five minutes.
Use the decision and goal cards separately
For a school decision or your own hobby project, name the choice and ask what could make each option fail. For a goal, supply a starting point and available time, then choose a workable first action. Do not invent extra goals to fill a quarterly sheet; check whether the planned work fits.
Try the decision method outside school
Use this fictional choice to practice without buying anything:
I have three hours for photography on Saturday. Option A needs
60 minutes total travel, 90 taking pictures and 30 for breaks.
Option B needs 20 minutes total travel, 90 taking pictures and
30 for breaks. The times are estimates for this exercise.
A has a setting I have wanted to photograph; B is more familiar.
Help me compare the tradeoffs. Check time, ask what matters most
and suggest a small experiment. Don't pick based only on speed
or invent information about either place.
A uses 180 minutes, leaving no buffer. B uses 140, leaving 40. Those numbers do not decide whether the new setting is worth the travel. A useful follow-up asks whether novelty, practice time or flexibility matters most to you.
Change one fact: “I now have only two hours.” Neither original plan fits. Ask for smaller options and decide which tradeoff you accept; don't let the AI preserve the old plan by quietly dropping travel or breaks. The reusable skill is checking assumptions, comparing real options and making a decision you can explain.