Something to doWorking with others
Write down what you decided and why
A micro habit for keeping your team's decisions, and the reasons behind them, where anyone can find them
Why it’s worth your time
Teams forget why they decided something long before they forget what they decided. Without the reason, old decisions get reopened for no good cause, or followed long after they stopped making sense. A few lines per decision, kept where people already look, lets anyone see what's settled and whether it still should be.
How to keep a decision log
You’ll come away with a decision log your team can find, with the reason next to each call.
We’ll send you a calendar invite.
- Pick one place people already look.
The project doc, a pinned page in your team channel, the top of a shared notes file. A log in a new tool nobody opens won't get found.
Tip: Call it something plain, like Decisions, so a search turns it up.
- Write four things for each decision.
What was decided, the date, who decided, and why, a line or two each. For example: 14 March. We'll build the mobile version first. Ana decided. Why: most new sign-ups come from phones, and desktop can follow a month later.
- Ask for the reason when you don't know it.
If you're logging a call someone else made and the reason isn't obvious, ask. It's a normal question, and the answer is the most useful part of the entry.
You“I'm adding this to our decisions page. What's the one-line reason, so people later know why we went this way?” - Catch up on the week's decisions every Friday.
Five minutes to add anything decided in meetings, threads or hallway conversations. Link to the discussion if there was one.
- Point to the entry when a settled question comes back.
Share the entry rather than rearguing it. If the reason no longer holds, that's a fine reason to reopen the decision, openly and on purpose.
MonTueWedThuFri9 am11 am1 pm3 pm5 min, yours5 pm0.3 hrs a month, for you4 hrs a year you didn’t have beforeSame slot so it stops being a decision
Good moments for this: at the end of each weekright after a decision that took a while to reachwhen someone new joins the team
We’ll send you a calendar invite.
Keep going with Truest
Small actions add up. Truest helps you find the next thing worth doing, make the space to do it, and keep a record of your progress. It’s a private place to work on your career, and it’s yours, not your employer’s.
- It actually happensWe’ll put it on your calendar and remind you before it starts.
- A living page in your VaultKeep it as one page you add to, next to your reviews and your files.
- It’s yours to keepEach thing you do is saved to your private record, there when your next review or job search comes around.
Anything else we can help you with this week?
Making it work for you
Every workplace is different. Here’s what to think about before you start, and what might get in the way.
Things to think about
Not every choice needs an entry. The ones that took a meeting, a debate, or someone senior signing off are the ones people will ask about later.
What might make this harder
That's fine. One person keeping it well is plenty. Mention it when it's useful and others tend to start adding.
Questions people ask
What is a decision log?
A running list of decisions a team has made, usually with the date, who decided, and why. It helps people find what's settled and understand the reasoning later.
What should a decision log include?
At least what was decided, when, by whom, and why. The main alternative you didn't pick and what would make you revisit it are useful extras.
How do I stop my team from revisiting the same decisions?
Write each decision down with its reason, somewhere easy to find, and point to it when the question comes back. If the reason no longer holds, reopen it deliberately.
Where should a team keep a record of its decisions?
Wherever the team already looks, such as the project doc, a pinned page in your chat tool, or the top of a shared notes file. Being easy to find matters more than the tool.
Why this works, and where it comes from
Every team runs on decisions, and most of them live only in the heads of whoever was in the room. That works until someone leaves, someone joins, or three months pass. People remember that the team doesn't offer discounts; nobody remembers it was because of one bad quarter two years ago.
Without the reason, a team tends to do one of two unhelpful things. It reopens settled questions because nobody can explain them, or it keeps following an old rule long after the reason went away. The reason is what lets people tell those two apart. It's also what makes a decision easier to accept when it didn't go your way. A decision with a reason attached reads as a judgment call; one without reads as a verdict.
For your colleagues, a findable log is a quiet kindness. The person joining next month can catch up without taking anyone's time, and the person who disagreed can see their concern was weighed. It also makes asking why a normal thing to do. Once a team expects a reason next to every entry, people start giving reasons as they decide.
Some calls don't belong on a shared page at all, like anything about a person's performance or pay; those stay with your manager or HR. And if the real trouble is that nobody on the team makes decisions in the first place, logging won't help. Sorting out who owns each call comes before writing any of them down.
Other simple things to consider
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An exercise written by Truest, based on our experience. Last updated October 2, 2026. We sell a career membership; where that’s relevant above, we say so.