The decision log: the single highest-ROI operating habit
A decision log captures what was decided, by whom, why, and what alternatives were considered. Two hours a week to maintain — and it pays back the first time…
On this page▾
- Format: decision, owner, date, options considered, rationale, reversibility.
- One log per team. Reviewed at quarterly retros.
- Reversible decisions get a lightweight entry; irreversible decisions get the full template.
- The point is not perfection — it's not having the same argument three times.
Most teams re-argue the same decisions every 6 months. The decision log doesn't make decisions better — it makes them traceable and re-argument unnecessary.
The format
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Title | Verb-led, specific. 'Move comp cycle from Q1 to Q3.' |
| Date | Decided on |
| Owner | Single accountable person |
| Context | 2-3 sentences on the situation |
| Options considered | At least 2, usually 3 |
| Decision + rationale | Why this option |
| Reversibility | One-way door / two-way door |
| Review trigger | Date or signal that would revisit |
When to log
- Any decision that future-you might be asked to justify.
- Any decision involving >2 stakeholders.
- Any decision that involves trade-offs you might forget.
- Don't log every Jira ticket — log the choices behind the tickets.
Reviewing the log
- Quarterly retro: which decisions held up? Which would we reverse?
- Onboarding doc: 'these are the decisions that shape how we work.'
- Pre-mortem reference: 'last time we discussed X, here's what we decided and why.'
- Knowledge transfer: when a manager moves on, the log is half the handover.
If a decision shows up in a 1:1 as 'wait, why did we do that?' more than once, it needed a log entry.
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