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The One-Page Business Case Template Worth Stealing
By Nigel Guy · 2 min read
Most business cases are either a single enthusiastic paragraph or a
twenty-page document nobody finishes reading. Neither actually helps a
decision get made. What works is shorter than people expect and more
specific than a paragraph allows.
The rule: a one-page business case forces exactly the specificity a
decision needs and no more — anything longer is usually padding, anything
shorter is usually missing something load-bearing.
The template
- The decision, in one sentence. What's actually being decided, by
when.
- The cost, specifically. Not "some time and a bit of budget" —
an actual number, even if it's an estimate you flag as such.
- The expected outcome, stated as something checkable. Not "improved
efficiency" — a number, a rate, a specific change you'd be able to verify
actually happened.
- The riskiest assumption this depends on. The one thing that, if
wrong, undoes the whole case.
- What you'll do to test that assumption cheaply, before committing to
the full cost.
- What "stop" looks like. The specific signal that would mean cutting
losses rather than continuing.
The mechanism for using it
Fill in all six sections before you pitch or approve anything, even
informally. If you can't fill in section four (the riskiest assumption)
honestly, that's a sign the case hasn't actually been thought through yet,
regardless of how confident the rest of the page sounds.
What to skip
Skip padding the one-pager with background context nobody asked for —
if the reader needs history, that's a separate conversation, not part of
the decision document. And skip skipping section six; a business case with
no stop condition isn't really a decision, it's a commitment dressed up as
one.
Guardrails
- A completed template makes the case clear; it doesn't make the underlying
numbers correct. Verify your cost and outcome estimates independently
before committing real money.
- The "riskiest assumption" section only works if you're honest about what
it actually is — the temptation is to name a safe, minor risk instead of
the real one.
- This format suits a single, bounded decision. A genuinely large,
multi-year strategic bet deserves more than one page — use this for the
decisions it's actually sized for.
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