What it is:

SOPPADA: Better Recommendations. Better Decisions. is a one-page template you can use as your house style for every proposal or recommendation.

It gives you a seven-step path to present recommendations clearly and fairly—organized, succinct, and built for fast review and real decisions.

In most cases, it stays one page only (with detailed data linked or appended only when essential).

Who it’s for:

This is for you if you are:

A CEO/Executive Director who writes recommendations and wants them approved faster

A senior leader or manager preparing proposals for a board or committee

A board chair who wants cleaner, comparable reports and stronger decision-making

A governance lead or committee chair trying to standardize board materials and reduce wasted meeting time

Any organization that wants a consistent flow, consistent headings, and concise content that helps decision-makers move quickly

What problem it solves:

Boards and leadership teams waste time when recommendations are:

Too long, unclear, or inconsistent from one report to the next;

Missing the objective, the facts, or the real trade-offs;

Written like advocacy instead of a balanced case;

Light on risks, weak on comparability, and vague on what decision is being requested.

SOPPADA fixes that by forcing a recommendation to be:

Neutral and evidence-based in the situation section (no opinions);

Clear and specific in the proposed solution;

Credible by naming advantages and disadvantages with mitigations;

Decision-ready with one clear, concrete action request.

What’s inside:

The SOPPADA acronym and structure (the full outline)

S—Subject, O—Objective, P—Present Situation, P—Proposed Solution, A—Advantages, D—Disadvantages, A—Action Recommended.

Plain-language guidance for each section (what to write and how)

Rules that keep proposals short and easy to review

“How to Use SOPPADA” quick rules (so the template works every time)

Fill-in template (copy/paste) ready to use immediately

Optional variations to strengthen decision quality

Positioning for standardization (“house style”) across the organization.