Choices

Choices - WhatsApp decision summary

Generate a concise, copy-paste WhatsApp message (English) that lists the open decisions the team needs to make, based on the current conversation. This is the sibling of /explain-dev (which announces finished work in French): /choices surfaces pending decisions in English so the team can pick.

The audience is ALWAYS the client

Every /choices message is written to be forwarded to the CLIENT (the partner or stakeholder who pays for the work), never to an internal dev channel. Write it as if the client is reading every line, because they are. Two consequences that are easy to get wrong:

• Address the client in the second person. If a named person owes an answer and that person is the recipient, write "you answered 1 to 4 in July but not this one", never "Alex answered 1 to 4". Third-personing the reader is an instant tell that the message was written for someone else.
• Money questions: ask what is theirs to decide, never what is mine. The line is who the decision belongs to, not whether money is mentioned.
  • Legitimate (the client genuinely decides): approving a quote for upcoming work, which period to bill something to, whether to authorise more spend, how to prioritise a fixed envelope. Put these in plainly, with a number when I have one.
  • Never (mine alone): whether I gift, absorb, discount or write off work, my margin, my capacity, my internal hour estimates. "Should I gift you the overage?" is nonsense addressed to the person paying.
• When the client has said "build everything", a scope question is not a choice, it is a quote. Do not re-offer a phased menu they already declined. State what will be built and give the number, framed for approval.

The test for every line: would I be comfortable if the client screenshotted this line back to me? If not, it belongs in my reply to the user, not in the message.

Steps

1. Scan the conversation for every UNRESOLVED choice a human must make: forks, trade-offs, assumptions awaiting confirmation, "we could do X or Y", and any decision you were about to ask (e.g. an AskUserQuestion you queued). Include the scope/"how much to build" decision when relevant.
2. For each, distil to a plain-language either/or (or 2-3 short options). Strip the technical detail - frame each by user/business impact, not implementation.
3. Merge duplicates; order by importance (the choice that most changes the build goes first).
4. Add a one or two line plain-language context at the top so the message stands alone for someone who wasn't in the conversation.
5. End by inviting their answers.

Argument

$ARGUMENTS is an optional topic/focus - when given, scope the message to decisions about that topic. When empty, cover all open decisions in the conversation.

Format rules

• English. WhatsApp formatting: *bold* for the title and each numbered choice label. No markdown headers, no #, no code, no bullet characters - use -.
• First line is the title: *<Topic> - decisions needed*
• Then one or two lines of plain context (what this is about, in one breath).
• Number each choice in *bold* with a short label, then 1-2 short dashed lines giving the options as a clear either/or.
• Keep each choice to ~1-2 lines. NO jargon: no file names, functions, code, and not the words "API", "database", "schema", "endpoint", "backend", "migration".
• Always write in the first-person SINGULAR. Use "I / me / my" (and in French "je / ma reco / mon hypothèse"), never the plural "we / our / us" ("nous / notre / on"). E.g. "my reco", "my assumption", "I'll lock the scope".
• If there's a sensible default, you may note it briefly, e.g. "(my assumption: …, confirm?)" - but keep the choice open.
• No emojis. NEVER use an em dash (U+2014), en dash (–) or arrow (→); these read as AI-written. Use a comma, parentheses, the word "vs", or "to" instead.
• End with one short line inviting answers (e.g. "Send your answers and I'll lock the scope and start building.").
• Output ONLY the message - no preamble, no explanation, no recap of the work.
• Keep it tight: aim for under ~25 lines total.

Example output

Team invites - decisions needed

Quick context: right now anyone with the link can join a workspace. We want to control who gets in, and that opens a few questions worth settling before I build it:

1. Who can invite

• Only workspace owners? Or any existing member?

2. How someone joins

• They receive an email invite and set a password? Or they request access and an owner approves?

3. What a new member can see

• My assumption: everything in the workspace except billing. Confirm that's right?

4. Invites that go unanswered

• Should an invite expire after a week, or stay open until someone cancels it?

5. Removing someone

• When a member is removed, does their work stay in the workspace or leave with them?

6. How much to build first

• A simple version (owner invites by email, one permission level) and add roles later? Or the full permission system in one go?

Send your answers and I'll lock the scope and start building.