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Options

The moves actually open to one party in one situation, and what each would cost them.

2 credits·in-depth·about 2–4 min·12 domains

What it answers

The question Options is built for

Name the party and the situation. It assesses where they stand, lays out the options genuinely available to them with the trade-offs of each, records the questions that would have to be answered before choosing, and names a starting point the record supports.

Who reaches for it

Advisers, chiefs of staff and anyone preparing a decision for someone else to make.

What comes back

4 sections, on every run

These are the headings the result renders, read from the same promise the form makes before you spend a credit. A section that depends on what the record holds is rendered when it can be and never promised here.

01

Situation Assessment

02

Options

Each item Why This Might Be An Option · Precedent · What Would Flip It · Pros · Principal Opportunity · Cons · Principal Risk · Key Considerations
03

Open Questions

04

Starting Point

What you give it

3 boxes, 2 required

Event or situation
required · up to 600 characters
Stakeholder
required · up to 100 characters
Additional context
optional · up to 600 characters
Try it on: a subject you already hold an opinion about, so you can grade the result against what you know. Each one opens the form filled, in the General domain.
What can we do after a SolarWinds-style compromise?
What it will not do

The lines it holds

It does not make the decision. The options are the ones the record shows are open, not the ones that would be clever; a starting point is a place to begin the argument, never a recommendation to act.

Every claim carries its grade

A claim the scan could not source is marked as such rather than dressed up. How the grades work →

Verified or grounded
Reported or attributed
Contested
Open question
Where it runs

Available in 12 domains

A domain may name it in its own words and price it on its own terms; each row is what that domain shows.

General2 creditsDefenseas Response Options2 creditsFinanceas Response Options2 creditsEnergyas Response Options2 creditsHealthas Response Options2 creditsPolicyas Response Options2 creditsTechnologyas Response Options2 creditsClimateas Response Options2 creditsLearningas Perspectives2 creditsSportsas Front Office Options2 creditsTravel2 creditsLifestyleas Potential Moves2 credits
See one

Nothing published in this shape yet

No Options has been published to the public library yet. Browse what has →

Roles that lean on it

3 role guides suggest it

Head of corporate strategylead scanM&A advisory principallead scanIndependent management consultant
Try it

Run Options on something you already know

The fastest way to judge the result is to pick a subject you know cold and read it against what you know. The scan names its credit cost before it runs.

Start with Options →Plans and credit packs
More in the catalog

Other research in explore

ScenarioWhat happens if this plays out: a premise projected onto the parties it would reach.CompareTwo things set side by side on the dimensions that separate them, with a verdict that says why.LandscapeEvery named player in a space placed on one map, with position and leverage stated.PrecedentsThe historical cases that rhyme with this one, and what they say about how it tends to go.Uncertainty MapWhat is genuinely unknown about a question, what is only assumed, and what would shrink each gap.The whole catalog →