Decision clarity
NAME THE DECISION.
NAME WHO CAN MAKE IT.
A team can discuss a question at length without knowing who has the authority to answer it.
What do we know?
The facts and the people affected by the choice.
Who can decide?
The role responsible for making the choice.
What moves next?
The choice, its reason and the next action.
The distinction
INPUT IS NOT THE SAME AS AUTHORITY.
Some people provide facts, others are affected by the choice, and someone has authority to decide. When those roles are unclear, the team can keep repeating the conversation while the work waits.
Fieldnote helps make the decision explicit and records the roles around it. The team can then see what information is still missing and who is responsible for the next step.
The working record
KEEP THE REASON WITH THE CHOICE.
A decision record names the question, the owner, the input considered and the choice made. It also notes what information would justify revisiting the decision.
The record is deliberately small. Its purpose is to keep the work moving without making people reconstruct the conversation later.
Escalation
GIVE THE UNRESOLVED QUESTION A ROUTE.
If a team cannot make a decision, identify the role that can and the information needed for that conversation. Escalation should describe the choice that is required rather than simply forwarding a problem.
Decisions in a planning session