Operation Medusa and the staff method of presenting three choices

Which of Admiral Roberts's Dragon, Hydra, or Medusa proposals should be chosen in Operation Medusa?

Choose the plan selected in the novel because it is the only serious route to victory; the other two illustrate deliberately inferior alternatives in staff planning.

Only the plan adopted in the novel is considered a convincing route to victory; the alternatives amount to different ways of losing. Clarke relates the briefing to conversations with the author and his own experience of presenting options to superiors. In that account, two alternatives can look plausible initially while revealing enough weaknesses to steer a decision toward the preferred plan. Inventing those credible-looking alternatives can be harder than designing the plan itself. Sometimes every available option is bad, which creates a different problem for the adviser. His personal observation is that a hostile or supportive boss can be easier to predict than someone who evaluates the options independently.