1. Objective
This SOP governs how you conduct research and present it to support your executive's decision-making. A solo business owner makes dozens of decisions each week — who to hire, which vendor to use, which tool to buy, which opportunity to pursue. Most are made with incomplete information because there was no time to research properly. When you provide well-organized, synthesized research, you give your executive the information they need to make better decisions faster. This SOP defines the standard for how that research is conducted and presented.
Where this SOP starts: When your executive asks you to research something, or when you identify an upcoming decision they'll need to make and proactively surface the research.
Where this SOP ends: When the research has been delivered, the decision has been made, and any agreed-upon next step has been added to the task tracker.Success looks like: Your executive makes informed decisions faster. They stop feeling like they're flying blind on operational choices. When they ask for research, they receive a synthesis — not a dump of links. They trust that your recommendation reflects careful thought, not a Google-and-forward.
2. Your Role & Boundaries
2a. What you handle independently
- Conducting targeted research using publicly available sources
- Synthesizing research into a clean, usable format
- Presenting a recommendation with reasoning when appropriate
- Flagging when you don't have a clear recommendation and why
2b. What requires executive approval before acting
- Contacting vendors or service providers for quotes or information on your executive's behalf
- Accessing paid research tools or subscriptions not already in the stack
- Making any commitment or inquiry that implies purchasing intent
2c. What you never do
- You never send raw research without synthesizing it — that shifts the cognitive burden to your executive
- You never present a recommendation without showing the reasoning behind it
- You never make a vendor selection or purchasing decision on your executive's behalf
- You never include unverified information without flagging the source's reliability
3. The Research Standard: Synthesis Over Dump
The most common research mistake: Collecting information and sending it all to your executive without organizing it. This shifts the cognitive burden from you to them. They now have to read 10 articles and decide what matters. You've done the collecting but not the thinking.
Your standard: synthesize, don't dump.
After researching any topic, deliver:
1. The bottom line up front — the answer to the actual question
2. 2–4 key supporting points — the most relevant context
3. Your recommendation — when you have one
4. Source links — for reference only, not required reading
This means your executive reads a paragraph and gets everything they need to act — not a stack of articles to process themselves.
4. Vendor and Tool Research
When your executive needs to evaluate a new vendor, tool, or service:
Step 1: Understand the specific need. Before researching, confirm what problem they're trying to solve. "I need a project management tool" is too vague. "I need something where three people can see active client tasks, with due dates and a simple status view, and I'm currently using Google Sheets" is specific enough to evaluate meaningfully.
Step 2: Research 3–5 options. Focus on the most relevant, not the most numerous.
Step 3: Evaluate against the specific need. For each option:
- Does it solve the specific problem?
- What does it cost?
- What do real users say? (Check G2, Capterra, or product-specific communities — not just the marketing page)
- What are the integration requirements?
Step 4: Create a comparison table.
| Tool | Cost | Fits need? | Setup effort | Users say | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Asana | $10/mo | Yes | Low | Strong | Free tier available |
| ClickUp | $7/mo | Yes | Medium | Very positive | More complex, more powerful |
| Todoist | $4/mo | Partial | Minimal | Very positive | Limited project view |
Step 5: Add a one-paragraph recommendation at the top. Not after the table — before it. Your executive should be able to read the first paragraph and make a decision, or use the table for confirmation.
5. Contact and Prospect Research
Before your executive meets with a new contact: see SOP-CEA-STRAT-02 for the full contact brief protocol.
For informal research — when your executive wants to understand a contact before a call or email — deliver:
- Who they are (2 sentences)
- What their business does (2 sentences)
- One relevant recent activity
- How they're connected to your executive
Keep it to 5–10 lines. This is a quick background note, not a full brief.
6. Decision Support
When your executive faces a decision — even an informal one — you can often help by organizing the options clearly. This doesn't require deep research every time. Sometimes it just means taking the internal deliberation they would have and doing it for them on paper.
Decision brief format:
Decision: [What needs to be decided?]
Options:
1. [Option A — one sentence description]
2. [Option B — one sentence description]
3. [Option C if applicable]
Key considerations:
- [What's most important in making this decision?]
- [What are the trade-offs?]
Recommendation:
[What would you choose and why?]
OR: "I see strong arguments for both Options A and B. The right call depends on whether you prioritize [X] or [Y]."
Next step:
[What action follows the decision?]
7. Research Source Reliability
Not all sources are equal. Apply judgment to what you use.
Higher reliability:
- Official product documentation and pricing pages (for tool specs and cost)
- G2.com, Capterra — verified user reviews with authenticated profiles
- Industry-specific publications and trade organizations
- LinkedIn company pages (for basic company facts)
Lower reliability / verify before using:
- AI-generated summaries (fact-check key claims)
- Anonymous forum posts (useful for patterns, not single facts)
- Marketing pages (good for features, not for unbiased comparison)
- Outdated articles (check publish date — anything 2+ years old for technology is suspect)
If you use a lower-reliability source: Note it. "This figure is from the company's own website — independent verification wasn't available."
8. Escalation Protocol
Escalate when:
- Research reveals a significant concern about a vendor, contact, or decision that your executive should know before proceeding
- You've researched a decision and genuinely cannot reach a recommendation — state why clearly
- The scope of the research exceeds what you can complete by the needed deadline
Research flag format:
Research note — flagging this before I finalize:
[Brief description of the concern or limitation]
I can [proceed with what I have / research further if you can give me more time / recommend a next step].
What would you prefer?
9. Tools & Access
| Tool | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Contact and company research | |
| G2.com / Capterra | Tool and vendor user review research |
| Company websites | Product and pricing information |
| [AI tools — Claude / ChatGPT] | Research synthesis (verify key facts independently) |
| Google News search | Recent news and press |
10. Changelog
| Date | Notes |
|---|---|
| April 2026 | Initial release |