Decision logtemplate.
The boring admin that saves you when someone says, three months later, “I don’t remember agreeing that.” One entry per decision. Lightweight, truthful, and treated like insurance.
Fill it in. Copy it out.
Type into the boxes and the copy-ready version writes itself. Copy it, print it, or save it as a PDF. Press Example to see a filled-in version.
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Appendix B7Decision Log Template
The boring admin that saves you when someone says, three months later, 'I don’t remember agreeing that.' Keep it lightweight. Keep it truthful. Treat it like insurance.
DECISION LOG Date | Decision Sentence | Owner | Boundary (in/out) | Trade-off accepted | Proof point | Next review trigger | Link (email/artefact) [date] | [decision sentence] | [owner] | [boundary] | [trade-off] | [proof point] | [review trigger] | [link] — From Just F*cking Ship It · voltsmethod.com/learn
Fill one entry per decision and copy it into wherever your log lives. The header row is included so the first entry starts the log.
From Appendix B7, Just F*cking Ship It by Matthew Barrington-Packer
When to reach for it,
and how to fill it in.
Use it when
- A decision gets made in a meeting and you can already feel it being reopened next month.
- Several teams depend on the same call and nobody can find where it was written down.
- Someone new joins and asks why on earth you chose this. You want a better answer than a shrug.
How to fill it in
- Write the decision as a Decision Sentence: what, for whom, to achieve what, by when.
- Name one owner. A person, not a team.
- State the boundary: what is in and what is out.
- Record the trade-off you accepted, so nobody can pretend later it was free.
- Add the proof point and the trigger that would make you review it.
- Link the email or artefact, then copy the row into wherever your log lives.
Where it usually goes wrong.
If the entry starts with “we discussed”, it is a minute. A log entry starts with “we decided”.
Every real decision costs something. If the log never says what, it will be relitigated by whoever lost.
The best decision log is the one in the place your team already looks. Pick that place and stop building a new one.
Quick answers
What should a decision log include?
Date, the decision itself, one owner, the boundary of what is in and out, the trade-off accepted, the proof point, a review trigger and a link to the evidence. Anything more and people stop filling it in.
Is a decision log the same as a RAID log?
No. A RAID log tracks risks, assumptions, issues and dependencies. A decision log records what was decided and why, so the decision survives people forgetting, leaving or changing their minds quietly.
How often should you review a decision log?
When the review trigger you wrote down fires, not on a calendar. Good triggers are specific: a cost threshold, a date, a proof point failing.
The rest of the toolkit.
A template fixes ambiguity.
The book fixes the room.
This is one of the tools from Just F*cking Ship It, the five-move VOLTS Method for getting stuck work shipped. Read it in an afternoon. Ship something by Friday.