Keep a small decision record in Markdown
Meeting notes often preserve the conversation while leaving the outcome surprisingly hard to find.
You can see that three options were discussed. You can see that someone preferred the second. You cannot tell whether anyone actually chose it.
A small decision record makes that distinction easier to preserve. It gives you a place for the decision, the reason, and anything that remains open.
# Decision: Use the shorter introduction
Date: 2026-10-26
Project: Website guide
Status: Decided
## Decision
Use the introduction that opens with the reader's question.
## Reason
It reaches the example sooner and avoids repeating the page summary.
## Alternatives considered
- Keep the longer background section.
- Open with a definition.
## Open questions
Does the example need a screenshot?
## Next action
Maya will update the introduction before Thursday's review.The project and person in this example are fictional. Replace them with the details your team actually needs.
Record a choice as a choice
“Shorter introduction discussed” preserves a topic. “Use the introduction that opens with the reader’s question” preserves a direction.
Specific wording makes it easier to act without reopening the conversation. If several drafts exist, add a filename or link so the direction points to something identifiable.
If the choice is provisional, say so. You can use ordinary labels such as Proposed, Decided, or Revisit after testing. Pick the few distinctions that matter in your work.
A clean template should not make an unresolved discussion look settled.
Keep the reason short and useful
The reason helps someone understand when the decision might need to change.
“We liked it better” can be accurate, but it gives a future reviewer very little to work with. “It reaches the example sooner” identifies a property that can be checked.
You do not need to transcribe every comment. Keep the explanation that makes the choice understandable.
If an alternative was rejected because of a constraint, record the constraint. Otherwise someone may later propose the same option without knowing why it was set aside.
Leave room for the question that remains
A decision rarely resolves everything around it.
Choosing an introduction may leave the screenshot open. Choosing a delivery date may leave the review process open. Keep those questions separate so they do not weaken or blur the decision itself.
Name who will resolve a question when that is known. If nobody owns it yet, leave that gap visible instead of assuming someone will pick it up.
Keep changes visible
If the decision changes later, do not silently rewrite the record as though the new choice had always been there.
For a small project, add an update:
## Update — 2026-11-02
The introduction now includes one sentence of background.
Reader testing showed that the example needed more context.For a larger project, a new record linked to the earlier one may be easier to follow. Choose the approach that makes the sequence clear without creating more paperwork than the decision deserves.
Match the size of the record to the work
A small choice can live under a Decisions heading in the meeting note. A choice that affects several documents may deserve its own file.
The point is retrieval. Could someone find the current decision and understand the reason without reading the whole meeting transcript?
Try the template on the next decision that sends people back through old messages. Keep enough context to make it useful, then stop. The record should reduce the repeated explanation.
Keep exploring
Read the Markdown templates for more examples.