Weeks after a meeting, the hardest question is often not “what did we decide?” but “why did we decide that?” A small decision log can preserve the options, constraints and conditions that made the choice sensible at the time.
Capture the choice, not just the topic.
Write the decision as a complete statement. “Hosting” is a topic. “Use the private-cloud environment for the pilot, subject to the agreed access review” is a decision with a boundary.
Keep the person or body that made the decision distinct from the person who recorded it.
Preserve enough rationale to revisit it.
Record the options considered and the decisive trade-off. You do not need a transcript of the debate. Include the constraint that matters: cost, timing, access, dependency or user need.
- Link the source meeting, approved minutes or decision document.
- State conditions that would cause the choice to be reviewed.
- Capture unresolved uncertainty rather than silently treating it as settled.
Use statuses that mean something.
Suggested statuses are proposed, decided, deferred, superseded and withdrawn. Your organisation may need different terms. The essential rule is that a reader can distinguish a current decision from a proposal.
| Keep | Add |
|---|---|
| The original decision and its date | The reference of the superseding decision |
| The original rationale | The new information that changed the choice |
| The source record | The date the new position took effect |
Review the log when the context changes.
Bring conditional decisions back when their triggers occur. At project checkpoints, ask which decisions are still current, which depend on unresolved facts and which have been replaced. Avoid editing the old wording until the history becomes invisible.
MAKE IT YOURS
Your editable template.
Replace the bracketed prompts, remove what you do not need, and save a version for your team.
DECISION LOG Project / committee: [Name] Log owner: [Name] Review rhythm: [When] DECISION ID: [e.g. D-001] Title: [Short descriptive title] Status: [Proposed / Decided / Deferred / Superseded / Withdrawn] Decision date: [Date] Decision maker: [Person or body] Recorded by: [Name] DECISION [Complete statement of what was agreed] CONTEXT AND RATIONALE Question being resolved: [Question] Options considered: [Options] Reason for this choice: [Decisive trade-off] Constraints: [Time / cost / access / dependencies] Uncertainty remaining: [What is not yet known] CONDITIONS Valid if: [Conditions] Review when: [Trigger / date] Follow-up: [Deliverable / owner / date] EVIDENCE AND HISTORY Source meeting / minutes / paper: [Link and reference] Effective from: [Date] Replaces decision: [ID, if any] Replaced by decision: [ID, if any] Change note: [What changed and why] Prepared with the MeetriX resource library. Adapt to your organisation. https://meetrix2.lisan.com/resources/decision-log/
