# {Project / initiative name}

**To:** {Audience — e.g. "CFO + Steering Committee"}
**From:** {Author / team}
**Date:** {YYYY-MM-DD}
**Status:** {For decision / FYI / For approval}

## The Ask

{One sentence — the specific decision, approval, or input you need from this audience. If there's no Ask, this is a status update, not an exec summary.}

## TL;DR

- **What:** {one bullet — what this project is, in plain language}
- **Why now:** {one bullet — the forcing function}
- **Recommendation:** {one bullet — what we're recommending the audience approve / change / do}

## Business impact

- **Revenue / cost:** {quantified where possible — "$X savings per year" or "$Y revenue protected"}
- **Risk:** {what risk is mitigated, or what risk is incurred}
- **Time:** {when the business sees impact}

## Cost & timeline

| What | Estimate | Confidence |
|---|---|---|
| Engineering effort | {N person-months} | {rough / directional / firm} |
| Vendor / infra cost | {$X over N months} | {…} |
| Calendar timeline | {N months end-to-end} | {…} |

## Top risks & mitigations

| Risk | Mitigation |
|---|---|
| {Project-specific risk #1} | {What we're doing about it} |
| {Risk #2} | {…} |
| {Risk #3} | {…} |

## What we need from you

- {Concrete ask — e.g. "Approve $400k FY26 budget by end of Q2"}
- {Concrete ask — e.g. "Decision: build in-house vs. buy from Vendor X"}
- {Concrete ask — e.g. "Intro to Acme's VP of Engineering"}

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*Full design doc: {link} — sections {N, M} are most relevant if you want to dig in.*