Based on our experience, one of the top reasons that causes a lot of issues in project delivery is the availability and usage of a key decision log. This is one binding matrix that can streamline communications and expectations, and bring in a lot of delivery efficiency.

Once the solution blueprint and the solution design document are prepared, people seldom go back to the original requirement, that is, the Business Requirement Document (BRD), situation, use cases, and exceptions to understand, or people seldom recall what had happened and triggered a particular approach. Hence, it is crucial to always maintain a key decision log that is easily accessible to all the relevant project stakeholders.

Any decision that could alter the course of the project and impact its objectives must be documented. Also, the circumstances of taking the decision should also be noted, as this would complete the entire story for the decision. A decision may impact one or more requirements, and hence, all the impacted processes must be mentioned in the key decision as well. This will enable the various owners of the project to participate in the impact analysis and, hence, the decision making process.