Process
Invisible Decisions
Invisible Decisions occur when important decisions are not documented or communicated properly, leading to misunderstandings or loss of historical context.
Context
Technical and product decisions made in informal conversations or one-off meetings, without a structured record accessible to the rest of the team.
Problem
The disorganization of project information and the absence of a formal decision history generate rework and repeated discussions about settled matters.
Consequences
- Settled discussions reopened for lack of a record.
- Divergence between what different people understand to have been decided.
- Loss of traceability over the reasoning behind technical choices.
Observed signs
Symptoms
- Disorganization of project information.
- Lack of decision recording.
What to do about it
Mitigation strategies
- Maintain decision logs with contextual details for technical choices.
- Implement a "no decision without a ticket" policy.
- Visualize decisions on team dashboards.
- End meetings with decision recaps posted in shared channels.
References
Links open a Google Scholar search for the title of the work.