Decision documents were a process that John Marshall introduced when he joined Bulb as CTO. They have a long lineage (the Amazon 6 pager, Andy Grove's Request for Approvals). I find they're brilliant for honing decision making; once you get used to the format you can use it to work through a problem (and share your thinking) very quickly. The self discipline of evaluating all options using the same set of criteria (and forcing yourself to propose 4) drives up the quality of decisions significantly. As a leader, they're a useful tool to introduce once your team starts to scale out: you can follow the logic of the argument being made in the document clearly, allowing you to delegate more decision making responsibility without losing confidence in the level of rigor that's being applied to each decision. We used to start leadership calls by reading and commenting on decision documents, then we'd move to a free discussion point by point (timeboxed to 10 minutes). Finally, we'd check if there was the consensus in the room to agree the decision. If there wasn't, we'd normally pick someone to pair up with the documents original writer and rework it so it could gain approval within 1 week (typically, this was the person who had challenged the decision the most). If the writer thought the decision didn't need debate, we'd do the process entirely asynchronously. This sped up complex, type 1 decisions but also made sure that everyone on the leadership team had the right level of insight and visibility of decision making. The process was used for everything - from remote working policy to sizing secondary SQL Server instances. One last note, as a rule of thumb, I wouldn't spend more than 2 hours on any decision document - write them in the open, share drafts and in progress work for feedback, and remember to use some central repo so you keep the historical record. This last point is also useful if you want to review good/bad decisions that you made and why. The template here is mostly derived from John's (thanks John!).

Decision Template

Maximum 1500 words. Provide links to supporting documentation inline.

Fill in the RAPID header block.
Write the Problem statement
[Optional] draft the Context block
Define the Principles we must follow in making this decision
Define the Dimensions we will measure the options against
Develop the Options
Ensure the Context block has all necessary background information
Write the Recommendation
Delete these instructions

Date
Recommend
Agree
Perform
Input
Decide
Status	DRAFT

Recommendation / Decision

Start with the point. What is the recommendation/decision and why? Keep it brief. 2-3 sentences max.

Problem statement

Explain clearly and succinctly what the problem is that we are trying to solve with this decision and why we need to make this decision now. Keep it brief (two to three sentences max).

Context

What context is necessary to understand the options? Link to supporting documents as necessary.

Principles

What principles must we follow in making this decision? In other words, what are we optimising for?

Dimensions

What dimensions will we measure the options against? Your choice of dimension will have a big influence on your decision. Be rigorous and comprehensive in your choice (breadth is important). Limit yourself to 3-5 dimensions to focus on what matters (quantity of dimensions is not important).

Options

What options have been considered and how do they stack up against one another? Use a RAG score as you assess each dimension of performance for each option.

Option 1

One paragraph summary, followed by relevant details

Dimension	Analysis	Rating	Notes

Option 2

One paragraph summary, followed by relevant details

Dimension	Analysis	Rating	Notes

Option 3

One paragraph summary, followed by relevant details

Dimension	Analysis	Rating	Notes

Option 4

One paragraph summary, followed by relevant details

Dimension	Analysis	Rating	Notes

# Decision Template

**Maximum 1500 words. Provide links to supporting documentation inline.**

**<instructions>**

1. Fill in the RAPID header block.
2. Write the Problem statement
3. [Optional] draft the Context block
4. Define the Principles we must follow in making this decision
5. Define the Dimensions we will measure the options against
6. Develop the Options
7. Ensure the Context block has all necessary background information
8. Write the Recommendation
9. Delete these instructions

**</instructions>**

| Date |  |
| --- | --- |
| Recommend |  |
| Agree |  |
| Perform |  |
| Input |  |
| Decide |  |
| Status | DRAFT|RECOMMENDED|DECIDED |

### Recommendation / Decision

*Start with the point. What is the recommendation/decision and why? Keep it brief. 2-3 sentences max.*

### Problem statement

*Explain clearly and succinctly what the problem is that we are trying to solve with this decision and why we need to make this decision now. Keep it brief (two to three sentences max).* 

### Context

*What context is necessary to understand the options? Link to supporting documents as necessary.*

### Principles

*What principles must we follow in making this decision? In other words, what are we optimising for?*

### Dimensions

*What dimensions will we measure the options against? Your choice of dimension will have a big influence on your decision. Be rigorous and comprehensive in your choice (breadth is important). Limit yourself to 3-5 dimensions to focus on what matters (quantity of dimensions is not important).*

## Options

*What options have been considered and how do they stack up against one another? Use a RAG score as you assess each dimension of performance for each option.*

### Option 1

*One paragraph summary, followed by relevant details*

| Dimension | Analysis | Rating | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |

### Option 2

*One paragraph summary, followed by relevant details*

| Dimension | Analysis | Rating | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |

### Option 3

*One paragraph summary, followed by relevant details*

| Dimension | Analysis | Rating | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |

### Option 4

*One paragraph summary, followed by relevant details*

| Dimension | Analysis | Rating | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  |  |  |  |
|  |  |  |  |