The notes just say 'approved.' No idea what the thinking was.
The reasoning never gets written down
The decision gets recorded. The reasons don't. When someone needs to revisit it, they have the what but not the why, so they either repeat the argument or start over.
- Decision records show outcomes and approvals, not reasons.
- Settled questions get reopened because nobody can find the original logic.
- Similar cases get handled differently over time.
Who: someone new to this workflow. Look at: three decision records from about six months ago. Ask them: "Can you tell why each was made and what would have changed it?" You're probably looking at this pattern if they can't. Probably not if the reasons are there but nobody reads them. If not, compare it with Past work can't be found.
Past work can't be found. That pattern is about finding the work at all. This pattern is about finding the thinking behind it.
Ask for the next big decision as a page of full sentences instead of slides.
Ask two separate questions. Was the process sound? Did it work out?
Our reasoning, drawing on research on how organizations forget: know-how that isn't kept fades and leaves with the people who hold it (Argote). Established for knowledge decay.