Decision Intelligence for Email

Intelligence is maximizing optionality. But analysis paralysis kills opportunity. The perfect balance depends on what kind of person you are.

I’m a slow thinker. I call it System 2 discipline. When I’m being more honest, it’s mostly fear dressed up as rigor. Mistake avoidance.

The email problem exposes this. I read, close, intend to return. And 80% of the time, never do. Lost connections, lost opportunities. The fix? Priority Inbox. I only see what matters, I reply immediately, and thousands of cognitive loops never open. Life-changing.

A framework that can make me even better: reversible vs. irreversible × consequential vs. inconsequential. Most emails & decisions are recoverable. Most don’t need my best thinking. They need a response.

But not a brainless response. Something between. Good enough to not embarrass myself, fast enough to not cost me the connection?

So I built a prompt for the Claude Chrome extension:

Read this email. What’s the actual commitment being asked of me? Recoverable or not? Reply now or later. Three lines, nothing else.

It’s not exactly the right guidance.

I told Claude: “Tickets already purchased, I’ll watch youtube to learn French braid, no need to reply.”

But then what. Nothing. Dead end.

However, this could be a feedback loop. If I’m able to correct and log these decisions, that will be a decision log that gets used for decision intelligence.

So in Round 2, I made a Google Sheet Decision Log and an Apps Script Project. I asked for the results to be structured and then record it to the Log.

Read this email. Return exactly this format, nothing else:

DATE: [today’s date]
FROM: [sender name and org]
SUBJECT: [subject line]
COMMITMENT: [one sentence — what is actually being asked of me?]
RECOVERABLE: [Yes / No]
ACTION: [Reply now / Reply later / Archive / Decide later]
REASON: [one sentence max]

Then ask: “Log to decision sheet?”

If I say “log it”, POST this JSON to [APPS SCRIPT LINK HERE]:

{”date”:”...”,”from”:”...”,”subject”:”...”,”commitment”:”...”,”recoverable”:”...”,”action”:”...”,”notes”:”...”}

If I override your verdict, say “log override?” and POST the same JSON with my_override field filled with what I actually decided and why.

Lots of people think that decision intelligence means more information when making decisions. Not me. I think it’s about collecting data on your decision process so you can improve it. This proto is decision intelligence for the email decision process.

What next? The POC works. The chrome extension could be next. But first, I’m test it manually. Stay tuned.