Record what you decided and why

Teams and people re-decide the same things because the reasoning evaporates: the choice survives in someone's memory, the why doesn't. A decision log fixes the why in place — one short entry per decision, written once, consulted for months.

Context, options, decision, review

Each entry records the context that forced the choice, the options actually considered (two or three, honestly summarized — including the one you rejected and why), the decision itself in one sentence, and a review date. The review date is the underrated field: most decisions deserve re-examination on a schedule, and writing the date down is what makes that happen instead of drifting.

A worked example

"Context: onboarding drop-off at step 3. Options: (a) shorten the flow, (b) add progress indicators, (c) do nothing until the redesign. Decision: (b) — cheapest test of whether confusion or length is the cause. Review: six weeks." Forty words that end three future arguments.

Link decisions to their evidence

A decision without its trail is an assertion. Link each entry to the meeting notes where it was made and the research notes behind it; the backlinks panel then shows every choice a piece of evidence informed. When the review date arrives, the entry contains everything needed to re-decide well.

Open this template in Typehall

Open this template in Typehall — it creates a new Decision note with context, options, and follow-up sections ready. Nothing is overwritten; your existing notes stay exactly as they are.

Open the notepad and log the next decision before its reasoning evaporates.