Use caseWrite
Write a proposal from your notes, without made-up numbers
A proposal someone can say yes to — the goal, the plan, who does what, by when and for how much — written from your notes, with every figure either yours or asked for.
- You start with
- Meeting notes, an email thread pasted into a note, last quarter’s numbers, maybe an old proposal that got approved. An idea you have explained out loud more than once.
- Time
- Under an hour.
- Your part
- The decision you are asking for, the figures, the read before it goes. Turning notes into sections is handed over.
What you'll end up with
- A proposal in the shape approvers expect: what you want, why now, how, who, when, what it costs and what could go wrong.
- Every figure from your notes or from your answer — none filled in to make the section sound finished.
- A Markdown file next to your notes, and a Word file to send.
The part that usually takes longest — deciding what the reader should agree to — is the first line of the brief, not the last edit.
How to write a proposal from your notes with AI, step by step
Put what you know in one place.
YouNotes from the meetings, the thread where the idea came up, the numbers you have. If your organisation has a proposal template, put that in too. Messy is fine; missing is what costs you later.
Start a writing brief and pick Proposal.
YouAskA one-page proposal to the ops leads to fund a three-month pilot of shared on-call, from @pilot-notes.
In a new document, type / and choose Writing brief. Write the task on the Task line, then pick Proposal from the genre menu — it plans for a decision: the goal, the plan, who, when, how much, the risks.
Fix the two lines that decide everything.
YouBefore it writes, or right after: Reader should agree is the decision you want (“approve the pilot and one budget line”), and Reader is who signs. If you have a template, @ it in the task as the structure to follow — a document handed over as the structure keeps its headings word for word and in order. Add “show me the outline first” to the task if you want it to stop at the plan.
Answer the figures only you have.
YouThe budget, the owner, the start date: if your notes do not have them, the section gets a card asking for each one, with an example of a good answer. Type it after Your answer or @ the file, and press Write it in. Or choose to write around it, and that part is written without invented specifics.
Let it read the whole thing through.
MindMaxAfter the last section, it reads the piece once — for a risk the summary promised and the body never handled, the same point made twice, a section heavier than its weight. Sections it just wrote are fixed in place and listed on the brief; Undo read-through puts them back.
Tighten it like any document.
You ask · MindMax answersSelect a paragraph and ask for it shorter, or comment where it is off and revise from your comments. Every change arrives as a tracked change you accept or reject.
Export to Word and send it.
MindMaxThe brief and plan cards are left out of the export. The Markdown stays next to your notes, and the next proposal can be written from this one.
Why it works here
The decision is on the first line
The brief says what the reader should agree to before a section is written, and every section is planned towards it — you can see and change that plan in the document.
AI writing →It asks for the figures
Where only you have the fact, the draft asks at that spot instead of producing a number that reads right. Nothing is filled in to make a section sound finished.
Where it asks instead of inventing →Your edits stay visible
Changes after the first draft come back as tracked changes, so what you approved is what you send.
Tracked changes →Also used here: Genres, and your own · Export to Word and PDF · Guide: writing with a writing brief
Where it gets hard
- It uses your numbers; it does not check them.
A budget you give it is written as given. If the total does not add up, the proposal will not add up either — check the arithmetic yourself.
- It does not know the politics.
Who has objected before, what the approver is sensitive about — put it on the Reader line or as Your requirements, or the draft argues to a generic reader.
- Short pieces do not stop at the plan.
A proposal is planned and written in one go. If a section comes out wrong, change its card and restore it; or ask for the outline first next time.
- Deciding what is missing is a judgement.
It may ask for a figure that is in a note it did not pick up — @ the note and continue. More rarely it misses a gap, so read the numbers once.
Then what
Under an hour
When you have a proposal that got approved and want the next one written like it.
About an hour
When the material is other people’s reports, not your own notes.
About an hour
When the approver comes back with comments.