Portfolio Mondays · Stealable one-pager
One-Page Scoring Sheet
Score accepted asks in the open on the same five lenses, draw the capacity line, and log fund, pause, or kill.
From Prioritization Without Politics Theater, a Portfolio Mondays episode on Portfolio Intelligence. Watch the episode
The sheet
One row per accepted ask. Score each lens 1, 3, or 5, nothing in between, with one line of rationale. Then draw the capacity line: above it gets funded, below it waits, out loud.
| Accepted askand owner | Value1/3/5 + why | Time criticality1/3/5 + why | Risk reduction1/3/5 + why | Strategic fit1/3/5 + why | Size1/3/5 + band | Weighted total | Outcomefund / pause / kill | Rescore date | Decision log entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weightsset before the meeting | Leaders set weights before the asks show up. Write them here first. | ||||||||
The five lenses
- Value. What changes for the business if this lands?
- Time criticality. What does waiting cost? Does value decay, or is there a hard date?
- Risk reduction. Does this close an exposure, or open an option we'll need?
- Strategic fit. Does it move a priority leadership already named out loud?
- Size. How much capacity does it eat? Use a coarse band. Score it so a smaller ask scores higher, the same habit as cost of waiting divided by size.
Rules of the pass
- Score the accepted asks for this cycle, not the whole wish list.
- If you can't say why it's a five, it's not a five.
- Changing weights mid-meeting is lobbying with a spreadsheet.
- Pause gets a written reason and a rescore date. Kill frees the capacity and says why.
- Reopening a decision? Ask: what changed? No new evidence, the decision stands.
- AI drafts rationale, flags inconsistent scores, builds what-if packs. AI never sets weights. AI never makes the call.
Worked example (fictional)
Three accepted asks from the fictional pile. Capacity this cycle fits about two. Weights set in advance: risk reduction counts double this quarter, everything else counts once.
| Accepted askand owner | Value1/3/5 + why | Time criticality1/3/5 + why | Risk reduction1/3/5 + why | Strategic fit1/3/5 + why | Size1/3/5 + band | Weighted total | Outcomefund / pause / kill | Rescore date | Decision log entry |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weights | x1 | x1 | x2 | x1 | x1 | Set before the meeting | |||
| Legacy auth patch window Security lead | 3: protects what we run today | 5: hard date | 5: closes a known exposure | 3: supports the named security priority | 5: small (S) | 26 | Fund | Next cycle | Funded: high risk, hard date, small. Owner: security lead. |
| Compliance training portal refresh Portal lead | 3: audit readiness | 5: audit season doesn't move | 3: lowers audit findings risk | 3: compliance is a named priority | 3: medium (M) | 20 | Fund | Next cycle | Funded: hard season date. Owner: portal lead. |
| Capacity lineMerged finance export One owner, two sponsors | 3: steady value | 1: nothing breaks if it waits | 1: no exposure closed | 3: useful, not a named priority | 3: medium (M) | 12 | Pause | Next cycle | Paused with a rescore date. Sponsors can argue a score with evidence, not volume. |
Scores and totals are illustrative. The point isn't that the math is right. The point is that the reasoning is visible.
One-Page Scoring Sheet · scottpresley.net/tools/scoring-sheet · Portfolio Mondays on Portfolio Intelligence · AI drafts. Humans decide.