# One-Pager Template — with the quality gates inline

> The discipline is subtraction. Every section below has a hard budget; when you exceed it, the fix is cutting, not shrinking the font.

**[TITLE — the decision, not the topic]**
*Not "Q3 Platform Investments" but "Approve $400k to consolidate three data pipelines into one."* Budget: 12 words.

**The ask (2 lines max)**
What you want, from whom, by when. If the reader stops here, they should still know what you need.
`GATE: contains a verb, a number, and a date — or it isn't an ask.`

**Why now (3 lines)**
The trigger that makes this urgent this quarter, not eventually. One quantified cost-of-waiting.
`GATE: "the problem is getting worse" needs a rate — per month, per quarter.`

**The plan (4-6 bullets)**
Each bullet: action → owner → date. No sub-bullets. Anything needing sub-bullets belongs in the appendix doc, linked once.
`GATE: every bullet survives the question "what would we see if this were done?"`

**The numbers (one small table)**
Cost, expected return, and the break-even assumption — the ONE assumption the economics stand on, named honestly.
`GATE: a reader can find the load-bearing assumption in under 10 seconds.`

**Risks (exactly 2)**
The two that would actually kill it, each with its mitigation. Listing five risks reads as not knowing which matter.

**What happens if we do nothing (2 lines)**
The honest counterfactual — sometimes it's survivable, and saying so builds trust for the times it isn't.

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*Fits on one page at 11pt with margins a lawyer wouldn't mock. If it doesn't: cut the plan bullets first, the why-now second. Never cut the ask or the assumption.*
