How to Document Product Decisions

A practical format for recording what was decided, why, and what you rejected — in minutes, not hours.

Documenting a product decision is not writing a memo for posterity. It is creating a reusable artifact that answers three questions for anyone who reads it six months later: What did we decide? Why? What would make us change our mind?

The five-minute decision record

1

State the decision plainly

One sentence. No jargon. "We will ship email magic links before social login." If you cannot say it in one line, the decision is not ready.
2

Link the inputs

Attach the user feedback, research, metrics, or constraints that informed the choice. Decisions floating alone are impossible to defend.
3

Name the alternatives

List what you considered and did not choose. This prevents the same debate from resurfacing every quarter.
4

Record assumptions

What must remain true for this decision to hold? "Enterprise buyers will accept magic links" is an assumption worth flagging.
5

Assign an owner and date

Someone is accountable for revisiting the decision if assumptions break. Add a review date for high-stakes choices.

Before you mark a decision done

✓ The decision is written in plain language
✓ At least one piece of supporting evidence is linked
✓ Alternatives are named, even briefly
✓ Stakeholders who need to know have been notified
✓ Engineering can find it without asking in Slack