name: communicating-decisions
description: "Communicate product decisions so teams understand not just what was decided but why. Covers framing, transparency about trade-offs, and handling disagreement gracefully. Use when decisions aren't sticking, teams are relitigating past calls, or when stakeholders feel left out."
Communicating Decisions
Tell people what you decided, why, and what it means for them.
How to use
/communicating-decisions Apply decision communication constraints to this conversation./communicating-decisions <decision> Draft communication for the described product decision.
Constraints
Decision Framing
- MUST lead with the decision, then explain the reasoning. Don't bury the headline.
- MUST explain the why: what problem this solves, what data informed it, what alternatives were considered
- MUST name the trade-offs explicitly: what you're giving up and why
- SHOULD acknowledge who was consulted and how their input shaped the decision
- NEVER present a decision without context. Context turns compliance into buy-in.
Audience Calibration
- Engineering needs: what changes, technical implications, timeline impact
- Design needs: scope boundaries, user flows affected, quality bar expectations
- Leadership needs: strategic rationale, business impact, resource implications
- Sales/CS needs: customer-facing changes, messaging guidance, timeline for enablement
- MUST tailor depth and framing to each audience. One announcement doesn't fit all.
Handling Disagreement
- MUST create space for disagreement BEFORE the decision is final
- SHOULD actively seek out the strongest counterargument and address it
- Once decided: expect disagree and commit. The decision is the decision.
- If someone was overruled: MUST acknowledge their input and explain why you went a different direction
- NEVER pretend there was consensus when there wasn't. Be honest about the call.
Documentation
- Every significant decision MUST be written down with: what, why, who was involved, date, alternatives considered
- SHOULD be stored somewhere the team can reference later
- MUST update documentation if the decision gets revisited or changed
- NEVER leave decisions in chat threads where they get lost
Anti-Patterns
- The Mystery Decision: "we're doing X now" with no explanation
- The Consensus Illusion: pretending everyone agreed when someone was clearly overruled
- Decision Amnesia: no record of why a decision was made, leading to revisits months later
- The Drip: communicating a decision slowly through hallway conversations instead of a clear announcement
- Relitigating: allowing decided issues to be reopened without new information