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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33076
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/33076
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

In case you are starting from scratch and are free to choose whichever form you like you should have a look at the [excellent answer from Monica Cellio](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/33064/23159).

But: in case you are in an established company there is a good chance that you may not have to come up with your own formatting rules.

Most companies that have done this kind of process a few times will have some sort of styleguides or rules for how to write a recommendation. There are lots of things that may have to be considered:

- Which technology is used to present the recommendation? 
  - PowerPoint as a short management summary, maybe in addition to a longer text
  - Word
  - LaTex
  - ...
- What structure should the recommendation have?
  - While there are general rules about how this can be done (again, take a look at Monicas answer) a company can choose to go a different path - and if your manager has read a dozen recommendations before, always with the same general layout, then you will want to make it easier for him to find what he is looking for.
  - There can also be regulatory requirements, depending on which sector your company is in - if it's highly regulated chances are the documentation is supposed to be usable as documentation for adhering to the process in addition to the documenting your recommendation. For example your company may be forced to evaluate at least three different alternatives - in such cases there may be styleguides that are necessary for example for make-or-buy decisions.
- How long can and should it be?
  - A company-wide styleguide will give you recommendations on the preferred length of certain parts. Maybe your exposition can't be longer than one page. Or maybe you need to have at least a page talking about Pro and Con.
  - By looking at previous examples you can get a feeling for what works and what doesn't work. Does a lengthy documentation equal a good chance to get funding for example?

The most important thing when writing a recommendation is to ask your coworkers whether they know of such styleguides and examples - because your text can be perfect, if it doesn't adhere to the companies guidelines it won't be well received.

The above are some points that you should keep in mind and that you can ask about. Maybe you can't find a complete document, but you found management presentations with summary slides. Take a look at how they are designed and decide whether it might be a good idea to take those as an example. For example are you doing comparisons simply by listing them underneath one another? Or are you putting the Pro on the left side and the Con on the right side? Or do you compare two products like "Product 1 is cheap - Product 2 is expensive" with the next line being "Product 1 offers three of four requested features - Product 2 offers four of four requested features"?

When doing a weakness analysis, does your company prefer a small overview slide/page, followed by one page per weakness and then going to the "recommendations" to talk about strategies for mitigating all weaknesses together? Or does your company prefer to tackle on issue at the time and want you to give the weakness directly followed by specific "recommendations" on how to mitigate the risk?

Finally a lot of "How would I do it?" depends on how much time you have. If it's a documentation that should document what you have done in the last months then people will surely expect you to make a lengthy document with a few short paragraphs in the beginning and end that tell the management what to do and with long descriptions in the middle that will tell your coworkers why you recommended what you recommended. If you don't have much time because this is for example not a high-profile task, maybe just a small project with an even smaller budget, then you may want to keep everything short. The details depend on the exact context, what you can find as a template in your company or get as input from your more experienced coworkers and your target audience.

Original score: 1