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Decision Review

Was the call right, given what was knowable at the time, not what is known now.

2 credits·in-depth·about 2–4 min·11 domains

What it answers

The question Decision Review is built for

Name the decision. It reconstructs the information picture at the time, lists the alternatives that were on the table then, separates the quality of the process from the quality of the outcome, records what the decision foreclosed, and names the hindsight traps in judging it.

Who reaches for it

Post-mortems, board reviews, case teaching, and anyone who has been told a decision was obviously wrong.

What comes back

7 sections, on every run

These are the headings the result renders, read from the same promise the form makes before you spend a credit. A section that depends on what the record holds is rendered when it can be and never promised here.

01

The Information Picture — At the Time

02

Alternatives on the Table Then

03

Process vs Outcome

04

What It Foreclosed

05

Hindsight Traps

06

Bottom Line

07

Suggested Follow-ons

What you give it

2 boxes, 1 required

Decision to review
required · up to 1200 characters
Additional context
optional · up to 800 characters
Try it on: a subject you already hold an opinion about, so you can grade the result against what you know. Each one opens the form filled, in the General domain.
The 2021 US withdrawal from AfghanistanThe EU's 2022 pivot away from Russian gasAustralia's 2021 AUKUS submarine switch
What it will not do

The lines it holds

It judges the process, not the people. What was unknowable at the time is credited as unknowable; an outcome does not retroactively make a choice good or bad.

Every claim carries its grade

A claim the scan could not source is marked as such rather than dressed up. How the grades work →

Verified or grounded
Reported or attributed
Contested
Open question
Where it runs

Available in 11 domains

A domain may name it in its own words and price it on its own terms; each row is what that domain shows.

General2 creditsDefense2 creditsFinance2 creditsEnergy2 creditsHealth2 creditsPolicy2 creditsTechnology2 creditsClimate2 creditsLearning2 creditsSports2 creditsTravel2 credits
See one

Nothing published in this shape yet

No Decision Review has been published to the public library yet. Browse what has →

Roles that lean on it

One role guide suggests it

Transformation / PMO directorlead scan
Try it

Run Decision Review on something you already know

The fastest way to judge the result is to pick a subject you know cold and read it against what you know. The scan names its credit cost before it runs.

Start with Decision Review →Plans and credit packs
More in the catalog

Other research in analyze

Idea Stress-TestYour idea against the record: the assumptions graded, the prior attempts found, the cheapest test named.Track RecordWhat someone said would happen against what actually happened, dated and scored.Why They Did ItWhy an actor really made a move, with each explanation graded against the record.Literature ReviewWhat the studies actually show on a question, graded by how far they converge.Person ScanA public figure in their public role: background, position, record and network.CouncilYour own decision, read by the documented methods of two to four thinkers.The whole catalog →