Decision memory: keep the reasoning with the decision

Can someone answer these in 10 minutes?

• What did we decide, and is anything still waiting before we act?
• Why did we choose it over the alternative?
• Which source supports that reason, and can I open the relevant passage?
• Who can confirm the decision, and what would make us revisit it?

Give the other person the task or project link you would normally send. Ask them to write the answers and source links without messaging you for context. Stop after 10 minutes. Each unanswered question tells you what to add: a condition, a reason, a precise link or a person to ask. If the answers live only in your head, write them down and have the person who made the call check them.

If they can answer all four, use that record for the next handoff. If they cannot, repair this one decision before reorganizing your entire Drive.

Start with one paragraph beside the task

For a worked example, suppose you prepare the weekly CSV for a customer check-in. The team agrees in Slack to replace it with a dashboard, but an older Google Doc still tells you to send the file. Removing the export too early would leave you without the renewal-date column you use on the call. A useful record in the Linear task could read:

‘Keep sending the CSV until I have checked the dashboard against the columns we use in the customer check-in. Then remove the export: preparing both reports duplicates the same work. We considered keeping both, but agreed to stop the CSV once that check passes. Sources: Slack thread agreeing the condition; Google Sheet comparing the renewal-date column. I will confirm the check in this task and update the old Google Doc. Revisit if the dashboard loses a required field or someone attending the check-in cannot open it.’

That paragraph is the whole starting record. Replace ‘I’ with your name before handing it over, and turn the source labels into direct links. The task stays open until the dashboard check passes. When it does, add the date and the check result; keep the original reason beside it.

Make the link say what it proves

I would spend more time fixing a vague source link than polishing the summary. ‘Reporting folder’ sends the next person back through all three plans. ‘Google Sheet: renewal-date column matches the CSV, checked Tuesday’ tells them which check to inspect. Link to the relevant tab or range, not just the folder.

A second pair: ‘Slack discussion’ versus ‘Slack reply: keep the export until the dashboard check passes.’ Link to that reply in its thread so readers can inspect the condition and who agreed to it. A message suggesting retirement cannot support a sentence saying retirement was approved.

The column comparison answers whether the dashboard has the field. It leaves open whether the person using it has accepted the replacement. If that answer is missing, write ‘dashboard check pending.’ Mark the old Google Doc as superseded and point it to the current decision. Preserve the old reasoning so someone can see why the plan changed. If a source is restricted, name someone who can provide access instead of copying private details into a wider document.

For an AI draft, ask for the decision, reason, condition and a source beside each claim. Have the person who made the call review it. Zeke can work with connected Google Drive documents after they have been scanned; updated documents need a new scan. It does not capture the entire Slack archive or continuously sync Drive. If the reason exists only in Slack, first record it in an appropriate Drive document and scan that document. Leave any reason nobody recorded as a question for a person.