Summary: The template you will find in Figma. The decision-making register can be a simple table. You will definitely need to make some changes over time. Go ahead. Act, experiment. Do whatever you can to improve product development.
Decisions in the product lifecycle
Sooner or later, developing the product will put us at a crossroads. In a perfect world, we have a complete set of data to make the right decision. In fact, we have to work with what we have. Then it is worth relying on the resources we have and gathering them in one place. This can be done in the form of a meeting or asynchronously.
Types of decisions
There are many methodologies for the division of decisions, but I do not want to break down into the first parts, moreover, for the purposes of this article, I choose the simplest of them. To put it simply, we have two types of decisions – developmental and security-related.
Development decisions are those in which we choose the direction of further development paths. They should strictly depart from the strategy and be based on data and research.
Safety decisions are made more often “ad hoc” as a result of unforeseen events. Often their task is to minimize losses and risks. These decisions are most often made based on experience and intuition. But it needs to be structured.
Decision Matrix
Based on the discussions in which I participated and other workshop models, I developed a decision matrix. Nothing revealing, but in my opinion a good starting point. In brief:
- list all the possibilities.
- check if we have the data that allows us to refer to it
- define the advantages of these solutions
- define the negative consequences
- can we minimize these consequences?
…. and that’s it.
We have all the arguments in black and white, or in color on a whiteboard.
The decision and its consequences
it is undertaken in the awareness that all topics have been raised. During the meetings, such a decision is made by one person. During asynchronous work, it happens that the decision is made by the body. It is important to note who made what decision and put such a note in the decision log.
A decision register is essential
The registry seems like redundant documentation, but it’s better to spend a few minutes archiving your decisions so that you don’t come back to the same topic every six months. This is very important in asynchronous work, where over-communication is crucial.