Worksheet: Give every initiative a one-page brief

An idea with a round number beside it cannot be tracked or gated. This sheet is the brief each initiative fills in before it counts toward the target. It builds the Competent step of the check:

Each initiative has a one-page brief with owner, scope, baseline, value, milestones and measures.

Part 1. The brief

Field	What goes in it	This initiative
Name	A verb and an object: what changes
Accountable owner	One member of the top team
Task	What will be done, in two lines
Scope	What is in and what is out
Baseline	Today's figure, its source and its date
Value	Run-rate benefit, and the benefit this year
What must be true	The two or three beliefs the value rests on
Check points	Dated milestones
Measures	One early measure and the dollar measure
Tracked by and reported to	Who updates it, and which forum sees it
Risks and dependencies	What could stop it, and what it waits on
e.g. Check points		Supplier list cut to 40 by 31 March; new terms signed by 30 April; first saving in the May accounts

Part 2. The gate

An initiative counts toward the target only after its brief passes this gate.

Test	Pass?
One named owner from the top team
The baseline has a source finance accepts
The value names the P&L line it reaches
Every check point has a date
One early measure is named
Overlap with other initiatives has been checked

Send back any brief that fails a test. Say which test, and when to bring it back.

Done when: every initiative counted toward the target has a completed one-page brief.

Adapted from our own initiative brief template (PJP, 2025).