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Decision Journal

Have you written down the most important decisions you need to act on?

All that we are is a consequence of our decisions, most importantly how we decide to be.

Intention​

Read the play to out think then out work to maximize returns from critical opportunities.

  1. Ask Better Questions
  2. Sell Engaging Stories
  3. Engineer Better Systems
  4. Make Meaningful Progress
Mantra

Thoughts Become Things, Dreams Engineer Reality

Evolve better systems for taking better decisions faster.

Context​

Why​

Making incorrect decisions is inevitable and good decisions can still lead to bad results. There is no choice on fate but it is a choice to have the discipline to document each decision process knowing that what gets documented gets improved.

Use blockchain technology to store commitment to decisions along with the thought processes that lead to that commitment.

DAO are consensus driven organisations, they increase focus on community because there is a permanent immutable record of each participants voting actions.

From this we can begin to identify super forecasters by their discipline of expertise and weight votiing logic accordingly.

Graph Node​

An ADR is commonly understood as a compliance artefact. A document you write so the auditor can tick a box. This is wrong.

An ADR is a node in the Context Graph. It captures:

  1. The context — what was the situation when this decision was made?
  2. The options considered — what did the Filter examine?
  3. The decision made — what did the Controller output?
  4. The consequences — what did the Gauge measure?
  5. The status — is this still the setpoint, or has it been superseded?

When you link ADRs to each other, you build the graph. The graph is how you scale judgment without scaling headcount. See The Invisible Layer for more context on building Systems of Decisions.

The Forgetting Problem​

A problem solved is a problem forgotten. The journal exists to prevent that forgetting.

Organisations solve hard problems every day — routing decisions, architecture trade-offs, hiring calls, pricing strategies. The solution gets implemented. The people who made the decision move on or leave. Six months later, someone faces the same problem with none of the context. They repeat the investigation, miss the constraints the first team discovered, and sometimes reverse a good decision because they don't know WHY it was made.

The journal turns each decision into a queryable precedent. Not a compliance artifact — a node in the context graph that future decision-makers can traverse.

Process Over Outcomes​

Wayne Smith coaches decision-making in rugby the same way: review HOW the decision was made, not IF it was right. A good process that produces a bad outcome is still a good process. A bad process that gets lucky teaches nothing.

Todd Simkin runs this as a calibration loop in trading: state your prior, take the action, observe the actual, update the prior. The journal is where that loop gets persisted. Without it, calibration resets with every personnel change.

Track conflicts and compromises. Disagree, then commit — but record the dissent. The dissent is often the first signal that the decision needs revisiting.

Improvement​

Create checklists for recurring decision types. Which technology vendor? Which market to enter? Which candidate to hire? These criteria feed into organisational DNA and compress onboarding for new members.

As circumstances change, revisit the process. The journal makes this possible — you can see what you knew, what you assumed, and what you missed.

Onchain Decision Process Ledger — immutable judgment history for decisions that cross organisational boundaries.

Decision Checklist​

  • Probabilistic thinking is crucial: Thinking in terms of probabilities rather than certainties allows for better decision making under uncertainty.
  • Avoid resulting and hindsight bias: Don't judge decisions solely based on outcomes, as this can lead to faulty conclusions.
  • Update beliefs with new information: Use a Bayesian approach to incorporate new data and adjust probabilities accordingly.
  • Seek disconfirming evidence: Actively look for information that challenges your current beliefs to avoid confirmation bias.
  • Communicate openly: Discuss decisions and thought processes with others to gain different perspectives and identify potential blind spots.
  • Be open to feedback: Willingly accept and incorporate constructive criticism to improve decision-making processes.
  • Consider multiple scenarios: Use scenario planning to prepare for various potential outcomes.
  • Recognize the limits of prediction: Understand that perfect prediction is impossible, especially for complex systems and rare events.
  • Avoid tribal thinking: Be aware of how group identity can influence decision making and limit objectivity.
  • Use reflective listening: Practice active listening to better understand others' perspectives and gather more information.
  • Focus on flow: Avoid creating eddy currents that hinder the flow of progress:
      1. Don't push too hard beyond available capacity and capability
      1. Eliminate obstacles and waste
      1. Re-engineer more direct routes

Attachments​

Questions​

What decision traces has your organisation already lost — and what did that forgetting cost?

  • If you judged past decisions by process quality instead of outcomes, which would you rate highest?
  • Where is dissent being recorded — and where is it being suppressed?
  • What's the oldest decision still governing your system that no one remembers making?
  • Which recurring problem keeps getting "solved" because the previous solution was never persisted?