decision-doc

Frame the decision and its constraints, generate 2-4 genuinely distinct options, evaluate each on pros, cons, effort, risk, and reversibility, then make an explicit recommendation with next steps. Keep the document to one page so stakeholders can review it quickly.

A decision doc should include context, constraints, evaluated options with a comparison table, a clear recommendation, the trade-offs being accepted, reversibility analysis, and owner-assigned next steps. Omitting the recommendation or trade-offs makes it a menu, not a decision.

Compare 2-4 options maximum, and include 'do nothing' when inaction is genuinely viable. More than four options signals the problem has not been narrowed enough, and each option must be genuinely different rather than a variation of the same idea.

Avoid it when the input is too vague to generate meaningful options, in which case clarifying questions come first. If the document exceeds two pages, the decision is likely two separate decisions that should be split and analyzed independently.

Reversibility determines how much analysis a decision deserves. Irreversible decisions warrant deeper scrutiny, while reversible ones should be made faster, so the document must state whether course correction is possible, at what cost, and by when.