Manifesto for Decision Logs

We are uncovering better ways of documenting decisions by doing it and helping others do it. Through this work we have come to value:

Evaluating alternatives over choosing the default option
Understanding the big picture over being lost in the details
Cost-benefit analysis over politics and personal preferences
Comparison table over unstructured summary
Central decision registry over keeping decisions in emails
Re-evaluating decisions over fear of challenging the status-quo

That is, while there is value in the items on the right, we value the items on the left more.

Peter Szanto Gabor Nagypal

Principles of maintaining a decision log