Product thinking / DIJION
How to keep a lightweight product decision log
A practical template recording context, options, rationale and review conditions without erasing the history of earlier decisions.
When a product decision returns to discussion weeks later, people may remember only the outcome. If Why did we remove this button? depends on personal memory, the same debate repeats. A short decision log preserves context without transcribing every meeting.
Choose decisions worth recording
Not every color adjustment needs a document. Select decisions that are costly to reverse, affect several responsibilities or involve a meaningful trade-off. Examples include keeping drafts only on the device, excluding a feature from the first release or not supporting queued offline submissions.
Use a one-page record
Scroll the table horizontally to see all columns.
| Field | Question |
|---|---|
| Identifier and date | How will we find this decision? |
| Context | What problem and boundaries existed? |
| Options | What did we consider? |
| Decision | Which behavior did we choose? |
| Rationale | Which evidence or constraint mattered? |
| Consequences | What becomes easier or harder? |
| Review condition | What new information could change the decision? |
Architecture decision records separate context, decision and consequences. The same simplicity can help product decisions. The record’s value comes from allowing a future reader to understand the original conditions, rather than from its length.
A fictional draft decision
Consider a small note app whose first version has no cross-account synchronization. The options are local drafts, server drafts or no drafts. The choice might be local persistence because of the current release scope. The consequence is recovery on the same device without a promise of continuing elsewhere.
The review condition is the design of account synchronization. Rather than declaring local drafts universally superior, explain why the choice fits this stage. This example does not claim that the decision was made for a Dijion product or produced measured success.
Keep the earlier rationale
When new evidence changes a decision, do not overwrite the old record and lose the history. Link a new decision to the earlier one and mark the original as superseded. This preserves the reason for both previous behavior and the change.
Connect the log to the workflow
- Write a short record when the decision is made.
- Link the relevant design, work item and test condition.
- Verify implementation separately from agreement.
- Check the review condition when new information arrives.
A decision log should not become an authority document used to silence discussion. It reduces the effort of rediscovering context and makes outdated assumptions visible.