Decisions That Hold (1/3): The Decision Log

Most teams don’t lack opinions. They lack memory. Decisions get made, then quietly re-litigated weeks later when a new stakeholder joins, the context shifts, or someone remembers the past differently. The Decision Log is the simplest antidote. It turns “we agreed” into something you can point to, without drama.

The psychology is predictable. We’re prone to hindsight bias and memory reconstruction. After outcomes are known, people sincerely believe they “knew it all along,” or they rewrite why a choice was made. That’s not dishonesty. It’s how humans remember under uncertainty. A log doesn’t just document decisions. It protects the team from its own cognitive drift.

A good Decision Log is one page, always accessible, and updated in the room. Each entry is short: the decision, the date, the decider, the options considered, and the single sentence “why.” Then add two lines that save you later: what you are not doing, and what would cause you to revisit it. This is how you keep speed without becoming reckless.

Consultant move: make the log your default artifact. Start every steering meeting with “what changed since the last log update.” End every meeting by writing the new entry live, assigning one owner, and linking it in the recap email. When a debate resurfaces, don’t argue—open the log. It keeps strategy moving and trust intact.