Best Practices for Decision Pages

Title

1. Choosing the title is important. Make the title descriptive and easy to understand. For example, if the decision is about vendor records, put “vendor records” in the title.

Stakeholders

1. When you create a decision page, do a thorough stakeholder “inventory” to ensure all voices are heard in decision-making. 

   • List each stakeholder you will consult with on the decision page, both within the cohort and outside the cohort, e.g., CKGs, etc.

2. Notify consulted groups well in advance that they will be consulted on a decision. Add your group’s abbreviated name to the label for that decision (using the approved tagging taxonomy, includes instructions on how to use labels) if the owning group has not already done it.

3. Owning group = Assigned to do the work; coordinates the work with contributors

4. Approver = Final decider (One of the SILS principles is to “Empower data-driven and consultative decision-making, where decisions are sent as far up the chain as is warranted but no further”. Unless multiple groups are affected or additional staffing or finances are required, your group can approve its own decisions.)

5. Consulted = Must be consulted before a decision is made; contributors, advisors

6. Informed = Informed that a decision or action has been taken

Decision-making

1. Split a decision page into two if an issue needs to be continued by 2 different groups.

2. Be clear what the approval path is

3. Describe the decision-making process thoroughly

4. After a decision is final, briefly summarize the decision in the table at the top of the decision page.

5. Use the action log to track work. These decision pages are dynamic and change. Make sure any significant changes are called out. 

6. If you make a change to the decision after it’s final, make sure the approver approves the change. In addition, add an “update” section and note the update in the action log.

Useful to include

1. Add an Assessment section that describes how the decision will be made and evaluated, i.e., this is how we’ll decide; these are the pitfalls we might encounter; this is how we’ll evaluate our decision to know if it was successful.

2. Add Assumptions and modify or annotate them as you learn more. 

3. Call out Dependencies with other groups, activities, and decisions.

4. Use Options considered table with pros and cons if it’s helpful; otherwise remove this section from your decision page.
   
   

Monitoring decisions

1. Tag groups within the cohort that are consulted in decisions. Use Taxonomy for tagging groups on decision pages  (includes instructions) 

2. Create a decision rollup to monitor the decision pages where your group is consulted.

   • Tip: Make a copy of your Decisions page (the page with the rollup of all decisions for your group) and edit the Page Properties Report: Add a new label (Click on Add a filter and select Label) with the tag for your group. See Taxonomy page (linked above) for abbreviations.