The day · Page 58
Write it down before they leave
For you only
The decision doc is one page, written in the room, in the last ten minutes, while the sponsor is still standing there. It is not a report. If it takes more than ten minutes to write, it is too long.
Four lines:
What we are taking forward. One sentence, naming the winning direction and the user it serves.
What we are dropping. Also one sentence, also written down. A documented no is a gift to the next quarter.
Who owns the next step. A name. One name. A decision with no owner is not a decision, it is a mood.
By when. A date within two weeks. Further than that and Monday's energy will not survive the distance.
Then get the sponsor's yes on it, out loud, in the room. A verbal yes plus a thumbs up in front of eight witnesses is worth more than a signature collected by email on Thursday. The page is what stops the energy dying on Monday.
Why so much ceremony for one page? Because the alternative is the fate of every workshop you have ever attended: five teams pitch, a winner gets picked, everyone feels good, and then nothing happens. The one-pager is the antibody. Amazon famously has teams write the press release before the product exists and read it silently in the room, for a related reason: writing forces the decision to be specific enough to disagree with.
The template, ready to copy, is in Appendix B. Fill it live, read it back to the room out loud, and photograph it before anyone touches the door.