BBG Owner's Manual

▸ · Put the method to work

The Dossier Builder

Open a file on a real decision and work it through the seven steps. When you're done, you have a one-page dossier to keep, share or review later.

Your notes stay in this browser only. Nothing is sent anywhere. See Privacy. Pick a case class first: steps your class doesn't need are faded, but you can still fill them in.

Filled in with an example dossier. Clear it to start your own.

3 min readDossier step: All sevenTools: Dossier Builder, AI prompts
Case class
D

Define the question

Leave room for more than yes or no.
O

Outside view

Use your name. What would a new owner do?
How do decisions like this usually go for other businesses?
S

Sort the evidence

Things you can prove.
Believed, not tested.
S

Run the scenarios

I

Interrogate

Required for Class III.
E

Execute

"If ___ by ___, we rethink."
R

Review

Fill in on your review date.
Free download · 4-page PDF

The Dossier template

Prefer paper, or want a clean copy to keep? The PDF has every field from this builder. Includes the case classes, all seven steps and the Decision Quality Grid.

Download the PDF

Prompts for each step

Paste these into any AI chat you already use. Each one is built for one step of the Dossier Method and tells the AI to push back instead of agreeing with you.

D · Define

Widen the question

I'm framing a business decision as: [your question]. Rewrite it in three better ways that leave room for more options. Then list at least four options I haven't mentioned, including doing nothing and a smaller test version.
O · Outside view

The new owner

Pretend you just bought my company and have no attachment to anything I built. Here is my situation. What would you change first, what would you stop doing, and what would you keep? Also tell me how decisions like this usually turn out for small businesses in general.

My situation: [describe it]
S · S · Evidence and scenarios

The premortem

It is one year from now and this decision failed badly. Write a short report explaining why it failed, with the five most likely causes ranked by how likely they are. For each cause, suggest one thing I could do today to prevent it, and tell me which of my assumptions is shakiest.

The decision: [describe it]
I · Interrogate

The skeptical detective

Act as a skeptical detective reviewing a business decision I'm about to make. Do not agree with me to be nice. Make the strongest possible case against my plan, as if you believed it. List what would have to be true for my plan to work, and ask me the two questions I'm most likely avoiding.

My plan: [describe it]
E · Execute

Set the tripwires

I've decided to [your decision]. Suggest three specific, measurable tripwires: signals with a number and a date that would tell me to stop or rethink. Then help me write a short, clear message explaining the decision to the people it affects.
R · Review

Grade the decision

Here is a decision I made, what I expected, and what actually happened. Help me separate the quality of my reasoning from luck. Place it in one square: Earned (good reasoning, good outcome), Bad luck (good reasoning, bad outcome), Dumb luck (weak reasoning, good outcome), or Lesson (weak reasoning, bad outcome). Explain why, and give me one lesson.

Decision and reasoning: [paste]
Expected: [paste]
What happened: [paste]