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Cut this to fit the deadline

The date is fixed, the scope is not, and someone has to decide today.

Longscopedeadlinedecisions
The deadline below will not move. Help me cut scope to meet it.

1. Sort every item into: **essential** (the thing does not work without it), **load-bearing** (something else breaks if it goes), **visible but optional**, **invisible to users**.
2. Propose the specific cut list. Commit to a version, do not offer three options and ask me to pick.
3. For each cut, state what a user will notice and what we will have to say about it.
4. Identify anything that is cheaper to do now than to retrofit later, and argue for keeping it even though it looks cuttable.
5. Name the one cut that everyone will resist, and make the case for it anyway.
6. Say plainly whether the remaining scope still fits, or whether the date is the thing that is wrong.

Deadline and constraints:


Scope list:

Making it yours

  • Paste your own material where the prompt asks for it. Everything above that line is instruction, not content.
  • Delete any rule that does not apply to you. A shorter prompt that fits beats a thorough one that does not.
  • If the answer comes back vague, add a line saying what you do not want. Constraints work better than encouragement.

Prioritising and scope. Deciding what makes the cut and what the plan actually is: backlogs, MVPs, estimates, roadmaps.

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