Name the decision before solving the problem
A broad complaint such as slow growth, poor follow-through or unclear priorities is not yet a decision. Start by writing the choice that someone must make. A useful decision statement identifies the owner, the available paths and the timing that makes the choice relevant.
This prevents the team from treating every symptom as a separate project. It also exposes when two people are working from different definitions of the problem.
Separate evidence, assumptions and constraints
Create three visible columns. Put confirmed information in evidence, beliefs that still need testing in assumptions and nonnegotiable limits in constraints. Do not let confident language move an assumption into the evidence column.
- Evidence: information that can be traced to a record, observation or accountable source.
- Assumptions: working beliefs that may guide a test but should not be presented as fact.
- Constraints: time, capacity, policy or resource limits that shape the available choices.
Finish with an owner and a review point
A decision map is useful only when it changes what happens next. Record the selected path, the person responsible for the first action and the date when the result will be reviewed. If an assumption must be tested first, name the test and the evidence that will count.