Vogabe working guides
Practical
resources.
Bring a clearer question
to the next discussion.
Five working guides to connect claims with evidence, commitments with ownership and plans with decisions.
Original guides by Vogabe Advisors
How to use these guides
Start with one live issue.
Work through the relevant guide with the people responsible for the evidence and the decision. Record unresolved questions explicitly. Use the accompanying worksheet to carry the discussion into a clear next step.
Test a strategic claim.
Use beforeAn investor presentation, results discussion or management preparation session.
Download working guidePrintable HTML · Guide + worksheet
Start with one material claim in the equity story. It could concern demand, expansion, profitability or cash generation. Establish what management can explain and what still needs examination.
Work through the guide
State the claim precisely.
What is expected to change, in which part of the business and over what period? Separate established performance from management’s expectation.
Explain the economic connection.
How should the proposed change affect revenue, cost, capital requirements or cash? Identify any stage between activity and financial contribution.
Identify the evidence.
Which measures would support the claim? Record their definitions, reporting periods and sources. Note evidence that challenges the explanation.
Expose the dependency.
What must happen for the claim to hold? Identify the assumption whose failure would most change the conclusion.
Resolve the open question.
What would an informed investor ask next? Assign the analysis needed and decide when management will revisit the answer.
Your working record
- Claim and period
- Economic connection
- Supporting and contrary evidence
- Critical assumption
- Open question and analysis required
- Owner
- Review date
Leave with
A claim management can explain consistently, together with a clear account of its limitations.
Make a commitment actionable.
Use beforeAgreeing a target, assigning a programme or reviewing an existing commitment.
Download working guidePrintable HTML · Guide + worksheet
Choose one sustainability commitment. Examine whether the people expected to deliver it have a common understanding of the outcome, the measure and the work required.
Work through the guide
Define the outcome.
What should change, by when and across which sites, activities or people? Clarify exclusions that affect interpretation.
Establish the starting point.
Record the baseline, unit, calculation and source. Where the baseline is incomplete, assign its completion separately.
Connect the target to action.
Identify the operating changes required, their dependencies and the resources or approvals they need.
Distinguish responsibilities.
Name who provides the data, who validates it and who has authority to influence the result.
Set the next review.
Agree what evidence will demonstrate progress at that point and which circumstances require escalation sooner.
Your working record
- Outcome and boundary
- Baseline, definition and source
- Target and date
- Actions, dependencies and approvals
- Evidence owner and validator
- Action owner
- Next checkpoint and escalation trigger
Leave with
An executable commitment, or a specific list of gaps that must be resolved before it can become one.
Prepare a decision from a dashboard.
Use beforeA board or management performance review.
Download working guidePrintable HTML · Guide + worksheet
Select one measure that deserves leadership attention. Prepare the short explanation that should accompany the chart.
Work through the guide
Name the decision.
What should the reader consider: intervention, further analysis, escalation or continued monitoring?
Confirm comparability.
Check the unit, period, boundary and definition. Explain changes that could alter the conclusion.
Read movement and position separately.
Is performance improving? Is the applicable target being met? State the target’s date.
Explain the evidence.
What is known about the cause? Distinguish a supported explanation from a hypothesis requiring investigation.
Define the response.
State the proposed action, accountable person, authority required and next review point.
Your working record
- Decision for leadership
- Result and comparison basis
- Target, date and current position
- Explanation and uncertainty
- Proposed response and authority required
- Accountable owner
- Return date
Leave with
A concise decision brief that allows leadership to challenge the evidence and agree the next step.
Compare the next use of capital.
Use beforeAn investment committee, budget allocation or staged funding decision.
Download working guidePrintable HTML · Guide + worksheet
Take one investment proposal and place it beside a credible alternative. Make the next commitment visible before debating the total opportunity.
Work through the guide
Define the alternatives.
Set out the preferred investment, a smaller or later version, and a credible competing use of the same capital. Include the consequences of waiting.
Separate past spending from the next choice.
Identify remaining commitments, cancellation or exit costs, and the funds still available to allocate. Record obligations already created separately from expenditure that can be avoided.
Test the shared constraint.
Which option competes for the same cash, people, capacity or management attention? Check that the combined plans do not depend on using the same resource twice.
State what would change the judgement.
Record the decisive assumption and the evidence that would justify expanding, pausing or reducing the commitment. Distinguish a change in conditions from a change in the original estimate.
Specify the release decision.
Agree the next amount or resource to commit, the accountable decision-maker, the evidence required and the review point. Make the consequence of an unmet condition explicit.
Your working record
- Decision and credible alternatives
- Remaining commitments and exit costs
- Shared resource constraint
- Critical assumption and contrary evidence
- Next release and approval authority
- Review point and conditions for changing course
Leave with
A comparable set of choices and a specific next commitment, with clear conditions for proceeding or changing course.
Rehearse the first continuity decision.
Use beforeA tabletop exercise or review of a business continuity plan.
Download working guidePrintable HTML · Guide + worksheet
Choose one essential service and a plausible interruption. Walk through the decisions the team would face before recovery is assured. Record gaps as work to resolve, not as a failed exercise.
Work through the guide
Define the service that must continue.
Describe the minimum acceptable delivery, who depends on it, and how the consequences of interruption worsen over time.
Make the disruption specific.
Name the unavailable people, system, facility or supplier. State which information is reliable and which assumptions participants must test.
Find the first consequential choice.
Who can activate the response, commit resources or change a customer promise? Identify the deputy and escalation route if the usual decision-maker cannot be reached.
Test the fallback.
Follow the proposed alternative through its dependencies. Check capacity, access, data, communications and the people needed to operate it. A named backup is not evidence that it will work.
Agree how recovery will be demonstrated.
Specify the checks required before normal service resumes. Assign each gap to an owner and set a date to retest the part of the response that changed.
Your working record
- Essential service and minimum delivery
- Disruption and uncertain information
- First decision, authority and deputy
- Fallback dependencies and unresolved gaps
- Evidence required to resume service
- Action owners and retest date
Leave with
A record of decisions, authority and dependencies that need strengthening, with an agreed retest.
A record worth keeping
Write down what is known.
Make the open question explicit.
Agree who takes it forward.
Each download contains the full guide and a blank worksheet. Open it in a browser and print it, or use your browser’s print dialogue to save a PDF.
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