Frame the decision

FrameAlternativesConditionsPremortemHearingCommitmentExecutionReviewDashed: big bet only

The Frame section holds what the decision is for and the limits it works within. Midfire drafts the purpose from your decision statement, and for a big bet it drafts a first answer to every question. Each later step reads the frame, so a minute spent here makes the conditions sharper.

The text you typed when you started the decision is kept word for word, and the conditions read it as well as the frame. When it says more than the title, Show initial input beside the title opens it, and it travels with the export.

What it asks

An everyday decision asks two things, side by side:

• Purpose, the answer to "What is this decision for?"
• The objective, in your own words.

A big bet asks six questions:

• Purpose, or what the decision is for.
• Trigger, or why it needs a decision now.
• Timing, the date it must be decided by and what waiting costs.
• Scope, what is in and what is left out.
• Radius, who and what it will affect.
• Objectives, what it optimizes for and the hard lines it must never cross.

On an everyday decision the other questions stay listed as optional, so you can still answer any of them. Past decisions is optional for both types: link earlier decisions this one should learn from.

Edit an answer

• Click the text of an answer to edit it in place.
• Press Enter or click away to save, or press Esc to put the old text back.
• A short "Saved" note offers Undo for a few seconds.
• If a colleague changed the same answer while you were typing, Midfire shows both versions so you can keep yours or use theirs.

When the frame stops changing

• The decision statement at the top can be edited until condition work begins. After that, a different question is a new decision.
• If you change the scope, the radius, the decide-by date or a hard line after the conditions were assessed, the Conditions section says which one changed, so you can check the conditions against the current frame.
• Once the decision is committed, the frame stays as it was when the call was made.