MODE: Standalone Decision situation: Whether a small furniture factory should make an irreversible cutting-machine purchase before a supplier discount expires in two weeks. 🔍 Auto-detected: Priority axes D2 Objectives and Criteria, D3 Option Generation, D9 Reversibility, D10 Timing, D4 Evidence Quality, target gaps D2 Objectives and Criteria, D3 Option Generation, D9 Reversibility, Decision Stakes≈4, Decision Runway≈2 (based on: tension between a two-week deadline, an irreversible purchase, and incomplete option comparison) — override anything above by specifying it manually in your brief. TOP-3 DIRECTIONS: 1️⃣ D2 Objectives and Criteria + D3 Option Generation + D9 Reversibility + D10 Timing (k=4) — balances criteria, alternatives, staging, and deadline 🟢 BEST-FIT — READY-TO-USE PROMPT BELOW Target Set covered: Yes; Compatibility: Partial — high stakes exceed the short-runway profile Core: D2 Objectives and Criteria + D9 Reversibility; Weak link: D10 Timing + D3 Option Generation 2️⃣ D2 Objectives and Criteria + D3 Option Generation + D9 Reversibility + D4 Evidence Quality (k=4) — strengthens disciplined comparison with better evidence Target Set covered: Yes; Compatibility: Partial — evidence gathering may outpace the two-week decision window 3️⃣ D2 Objectives and Criteria + D3 Option Generation + D9 Reversibility + D5 Uncertainty Handling (k=4) — makes uncertainty explicit before commitment Target Set covered: Yes; Compatibility: Partial — uncertainty work needs compression under the short runway ──────────────────── 🟢 READY-TO-USE PROMPT (based on 1️⃣): Do not decide whether to buy the machine for me. Do not forecast financial returns or operational outcomes. Any legal, financial, tax, regulatory, safety, or specialist conclusions must come from qualified professionals, while the decision itself remains with the business decision-maker. We are a small furniture factory deciding whether to make an irreversible purchase of a new cutting machine before a supplier discount expires in two weeks. ✏️[PURCHASE_PRICE_AND_DISCOUNT] The decision concerns whether to buy now, pursue leasing, consider a used machine, delay the purchase, or identify another viable alternative. ✏️[CURRENT_OPERATIONAL_NEEDS] Use these facts only as supplied. Do not invent figures, capabilities, savings, demand, financing terms, capacity, or outcomes. Mark every assumption explicitly. D2 Objectives and Criteria — Readiness check: Work with me to define and rank the criteria that should govern the decision before comparing options. Include total cost, cash-flow impact, operational fit, reliability, maintenance, implementation effort, production needs, flexibility, supplier support, and strategic fit where relevant, but ask me to remove or add criteria rather than assuming they matter equally. Help me distinguish must-have requirements from preferences. Create a simple weighting approach only after I agree with the criteria and weights. ✏️[AVAILABLE_FINANCIAL_CONTEXT] Do not treat any supplied financial figure as independently verified. D3 Option Generation — Readiness check: Confirm that the comparison includes more than a simple buy-or-not choice. Develop a compact option set covering the new machine purchase, leasing, a suitable used machine, delaying the decision, improving the current process, and any other realistic alternative I identify. For each option, state what is known, what is unknown, what information would change its position, and whether it preserves future choices. Do not rank options by predicted outcome and do not eliminate an option merely because it has not yet been investigated. D9 Reversibility — Readiness check: Because the purchase is described as difficult or impossible to undo, identify which parts of the decision can be made reversible or staged. Explore whether demonstrations, trials, quotes, lease terms, used-equipment inspections, supplier guarantees, staged implementation, or other low-commitment steps can improve information before a final commitment. Separate actions that preserve optionality from actions that create irreversible commitments. Treat the irreversible purchase as a decision gate rather than an assumption that it must happen. D10 Timing — Readiness check: Build the analysis around the two-week deadline without allowing the discount deadline alone to determine the decision. Identify the latest dates for collecting critical information, comparing alternatives, consulting advisers, negotiating terms, and making the decision. Define what information is essential before the deadline and what can reasonably remain unresolved. If a deadline creates pressure, make that pressure explicit rather than converting it into a reason to buy. Stage 1 — Frame the decision. Confirm the decision owner, decision date, objectives, ranked criteria, and realistic alternatives. GO gate: proceed only when the criteria and option set are explicit. NO-GO gate: pause comparison if the choice is still framed only as buy versus miss the discount. Stage 2 — Gather decision-critical evidence. Collect comparable purchase, lease, and used-equipment information, relevant machine specifications, implementation requirements, service terms, and other evidence needed to test the agreed criteria. GO gate: continue when each major option has enough comparable information for a fair discussion. NO-GO gate: flag missing evidence that could materially change the comparison. Stage 3 — Test reversibility and uncertainty. Identify assumptions, failure modes, dependencies, and actions that can reduce commitment before purchase. Run a short pre-mortem by asking what could make the decision disappointing or difficult to reverse, without predicting that any scenario will occur. GO gate: proceed only after the main irreversible commitments and mitigation or stop points are explicit. Stage 4 — Compare and decide. Apply the agreed criteria consistently to the available evidence. Show where the evidence is strong, weak, or unresolved. Do not convert uncertainty into a numerical forecast unless I provide an appropriate method and data. GO gate: the decision-maker confirms that the evidence, trade-offs, uncertainties, and deadline are sufficiently understood. NO-GO gate: if a critical unknown remains unresolved, identify whether to delay, seek clarification, negotiate an extension, or accept the uncertainty as an explicit decision condition. Ask a legal adviser about contract terms, cancellation rights, warranties, supplier commitments, leasing terms, and any other legal questions relevant to the transaction. Do not answer those questions as legal conclusions. Ask a financial adviser about affordability, financing structure, cash-flow implications, accounting treatment, opportunity cost, and how to evaluate the purchase versus leasing or other financing approaches. Do not provide financial advice or predict returns. Ask a cutting-equipment or furniture-manufacturing specialist about machine specifications, compatibility with current processes, maintenance, installation, training, throughput requirements, serviceability, and used-equipment inspection considerations. Do not make safety or technical compliance conclusions on the specialist's behalf. Maintain a decision log containing the criteria, options considered, evidence used, assumptions, unresolved questions, and reasons for the final decision. Define a revisit point before implementation and a stop point for any staged commitment if a critical assumption proves false. The revisit should examine whether new information changes the agreed criteria, option set, or evidence quality. For the first 30 days or until the decision date, whichever comes first, create a dated action list covering criteria agreement, option discovery, quote and lease collection, used-machine investigation, technical review, adviser questions, evidence verification, pre-mortem, decision review, negotiation, and the final decision gate. Assign each action an owner by role rather than inventing a person's name. Mark dependencies and identify which actions are essential before the decision date. Throughout the work, mark every assumption. Never invent figures or missing facts. Never choose the option for me. Never present an assumed saving, return, production improvement, or other outcome as a forecast. Treat the analysis as a discussion aid rather than professional advice. Do not make legal, tax, regulatory, safety, or financial conclusions. Do not decide about any named individual. If company-specific confidential information is needed, use roles and ranges rather than names and exact figures. Keep the comparison focused on decision quality, evidence, trade-offs, reversibility, and timing. Negative prompt / avoid: anchoring on the supplier discount, treating buy-versus-not-buy as the only choice, inventing savings or machine performance, ignoring leasing or used equipment, assuming the purchase is justified because it is irreversible, rushing evidence collection without prioritization, treating assumptions as facts, or turning the discussion into a recommendation or outcome forecast. ──────────────────── ℹ️ "This tool compares decision-making directions and builds a discussion prompt; it does not make the decision for you, give legal or financial advice, or predict how a decision will turn out." Assumptions made: - PURCHASE_PRICE_AND_DISCOUNT: The exact purchase price and discount terms were not provided, so they must be supplied before evaluating the financial dimensions. - CURRENT_OPERATIONAL_NEEDS: The factory's specific production requirements and machine needs were not provided, so these must be supplied before assessing operational fit. - AVAILABLE_FINANCIAL_CONTEXT: The available cash-flow or financing context was not provided, so it must be supplied before comparing financial criteria. ❓ Want a different direction? Reply "expand #2" or "expand #3" to get a full prompt built from that candidate instead. 💡 Want to take this further? All three tools below are built for Claude. - Not sure your brief is ready? Search "Universal Query Auditors" on PromptBase to audit and rewrite your request before comparing directions. - Have a clear brief already and just want one direct prompt? Search "Universal Instruction Generator" for a single-pass generator. - Got a finished prompt and want it reviewed? Search "Universal Instruction Auditors" to check it against a full quality checklist before use. ⚙️ "Built for ChatGPT; other AI models, providers, and versions are untested. Use at your own discretion. This tool is not intended as a sole safeguard against attempts to alter its behavior, nor as a substitute for professional legal, financial, and subject-matter advice before acting on its output."