Illustrative business work sample

Business resource allocation

A good priority list must fit the resources available.

Illustrative task created for this portfolio with AI assistance. The scenario and data are fictional; the worked response demonstrates the proposed approach. Independent scoring is pending.

Assignment

Act as the operating lead of a fictional early-stage software business. Allocate next quarter’s discretionary cash and team capacity. Produce a decision memo of up to 800 words, an allocation table, a deferred-work list and a downside plan. Preserve the mandatory reserve and show all arithmetic.

Reference packet

R1 · Limits

Discretionary cash: $90,000. Mandatory unspent reserve: at least $20,000. Available incremental team capacity: 30 person-weeks. Base salaries and existing operations are already funded and excluded; cash figures below are incremental.

R2 · Mandatory work

Reliability work A: $25,000 and 10 person-weeks, mandatory. No revenue is attributed to it. Work is indivisible.

R3 · Optional work

Onboarding B: $20,000 and 8 person-weeks, estimated annual contribution $35,000. Partner pilot C: $25,000 and 10 person-weeks, estimated annual contribution $45,000. Reporting D: $15,000 and 6 person-weeks, estimated annual contribution $18,000. All are indivisible, may overlap, and estimates are uncertain contribution after variable costs, not cash collected this quarter.

R4 · Dependencies and downside

C requires B to be funded in the same quarter. B and C can overlap after B’s initial workflow design. No deadline-based commitment is specified. Downside scenario: available cash falls to $75,000; the $20,000 minimum reserve and 30-person-week capacity remain.

Illustrative reference response

Fund A, B and C: $70,000 and 28 person-weeks, leaving $20,000 cash reserve and 2 person-weeks of capacity. Defer D. The optional annual contribution estimate is $80,000 ($35,000 + $45,000), not current-quarter cash or guaranteed return. A+B+D would cost $60,000 and use 24 person-weeks, preserving $30,000 and estimating $53,000 annual contribution. Choosing A+B+C favors the larger conditional contribution and partner learning, while accepting a thinner cash cushion. C cannot be chosen without B. The operating lead owns cash and capacity; the product lead owns A and B; the commercial lead owns C. Confirm B’s workflow design before C begins dependent work. Review spend and staffing weekly and reassess contribution assumptions monthly. If the cash envelope falls to $75,000 before optional commitments, choose A+B: $45,000, 18 person-weeks, $30,000 remaining. A+B+D would leave only $15,000 and violate the reserve; A+C is invalid without B. If costs are already committed when the downside arrives, flag the shortfall and seek a revised cash plan rather than treating spent money as recoverable.

Downside check

If B and C contribution estimates both fall by 50%, their combined annual contribution estimate is $40,000. Their cash cost remains $45,000. A one-year contribution/cost comparison now looks weaker; it does not establish lifetime ROI or compel a single decision.

How to score a submission

Score each dimension from 0 to 4: 0 absent or materially wrong; 1 major corrections needed; 2 partly usable with substantive gaps; 3 meets the brief with minor omissions; 4 fully supported and decision-ready. Weighted total = sum of (dimension score ÷ 4 × weight). The weights total 100.

Proposed acceptance: at least 80/100, no dimension below 2, and no critical failure. These thresholds are proposed for this exercise. Preserve dimension-level reasons and evidence citations; a total alone is insufficient.

Critical-failure rule

Skipping mandatory A, breaking C’s dependency, or violating the reserve/capacity constraint without explicitly rejecting that plan makes the submission not acceptable.

Calibration example

A+B+D is a valid conservative base choice and can earn full credit with a clear rationale. A+C is not a valid “higher-return” shortcut because C depends on B.

Run and review consistently

Give each candidate the same assignment and reference packet; withhold the worked response and scoring notes. Retain the prompt, model/version or author identifier, date, tool access, elapsed time and unedited output. Anonymize and randomize outputs before comparison. Ask reviewers to score independently, cite evidence, and record disagreements and confidence before adjudication. Do not publish an expert preference result until a qualified human has actually reviewed the outputs.

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