Write it down before you decide

When one of our teams was about to change its focus, the decision meeting was simple and straightforward. Everyone already had the information, and their questions were already in the document as comments.

A colleague from that team had written the document. It first described the team's situation with regard to its current work, and then why it made sense for the team to focus on a different area. It was in the wiki ahead of time, for everyone affected and everyone involved in the decision. Everyone could read the reasoning at their own pace before we talked about it.

A document like that is called a decision record. The last post internal Reflacto blog post was about what happens after a decision. This one is about the time before it.

The situation first, then the idea

Where I work, decision records now often get started before anything is decided, though not at the first idea. Before that, it pays to think it through, sleep on it and maybe raise it with a few of the people involved. That way you can test whether it fits the current context.

Then the document starts with the current situation, briefly and in a few sentences. Only once the situation is written down can everyone who decides or is involved see what knowledge and context a proposal is based on. They see the situation through the eyes of the person writing it. That also shows where context is missing, for example from other departments or from the company as a whole.

As long as the current situation can't be described in a few sentences, it's too early for the solution, at least for me.

What comes before the options

Our decision records start with three sections:

• Context: What is the situation today?
• Constraints: Which guardrails must still hold after the change?
• Requirements: What should the change achieve?

Only then come the options. Each option is checked objectively against the constraints and requirements. Which constraints does it respect, which requirements does it meet, and how well? A decision matrix internal Reflacto page can help with this. Ideally there is a recommendation at the end. Then nobody has to guess which way the author is leaning, and everyone can disagree with exactly that recommendation.

Anyone can start one

Anyone in the organisation can write a decision record and get a decision started. It doesn't take a particular role. The document lays out the context and reasoning for everyone, and it also names who will decide. So what counts is the argument, not the position of the person writing it.

Anyone affected by a change can start and describe it themselves, like the colleague when the team changed its focus. That way, the people affected become the people involved. And anyone who reads the document before the decision can add missing context, comment on individual points or simply ask questions.

It ends with a decision

A decision record is only finished once it contains a decision. Ideally, whoever starts it writes down right at the beginning who will decide. Then everyone knows while they read. When the feedback is in and everyone has read the document, a short meeting works best. That is where the decision is made, and the result goes into the document: what was decided and why.

Then the follow-through begins, which the last post internal Reflacto blog post was about.

Without a decision record

Not every question needs its own document. For smaller problems, say in an email or a meeting, I use a shorter form. First I describe the situation. Then the complication, the actual problem that means something has to change. And finally the solution, or the options we have.

This is my simplified version of a pattern by Barbara Minto. In her Pyramid Principle, situation and complication are followed by a question opens in a new tab, and only the answer to it is the solution.

The first step

If a change is on your mind right now, start with a few sentences about the current situation. Show them to someone who knows it from a different angle, and ask what is missing. And if it turns into a decision record, write down straight away who will decide.