<aside> 🎯 What should be captured in the decision? How to go from evaluation to decision if there are multiple good/bad options.

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Getting to the point of the TDR, it is time to form a decision. If you are the sole decision maker and TDR contributor, you can skip over the Recommendation section and jump to the Decision. But if there have been other contributors to the TDR or you are not the decision maker, the Recommendations section is key to informing the decision.

Recommendation

An important step in achieving a well supported decision is the capture of recommendations from reviewers and authors of the TDR. Contributors to the TDR process should be encouraged to review the earlier sections, and provide their recommendation. These different perspectives of the same evaluation data can be insightful and fuel meaningful discussion. Capture the recommendations and insights in the TDR to have these views represented and considered.

To form your own recommendation, keep the following points in mind:

• Review the Needs and Requirements and keep these front-of-mind
• A recommendation can be based on assumptions that are yet to be verified and it does not need to strictly select one option. Often times, a recommendation may be of the form “If X is true, then Y, otherwise Z.”
• Capture the justification with the recommendation or else the recommendation is less valuable.
• Question whether you believe this is the right decision. Sometimes the data points in one direction but your gut sense is another. Dig into this mismatch and understand its source. Is there risk with one of the options that should be further explored?

If the evaluation points to a different option than expected or recommendations from others are surprising, don’t be alarmed. This happens occasionally, and in our opinion is a good thing, as it shows there is something to be learned. When this happens, this is an opportunity for rich discussion.

In these scenarios, you will want to look at and discuss the following:

• Is there a shared understanding of the Needs and Requirements? and is there alignment on their relative importance?
• Are the risks associated with an option being under or over estimated?
• Is there experience with an option that is driving a bias? If so, is there evidence to support it and how should that experience be weighted?
• Is there a middle ground option that brings different viewpoints closer together?

And if recommendations change based on this discussion or exploration, we suggest keeping the documentation of the original recommendation but then describing the motivation for change. This will help others who are potentially of the same mindset.

Making a Decision

The decision maker(s) will need to make a decision based on the full content of the TDR and the recommendations provided. The decision record should enable the decision maker but there are times where the right option is still not self evident.

There are a few things a decision maker should think about: