Free Async Decision Documentation Template

An async decision documentation template is the artifact a team produces when a decision is made without a meeting. It is what distinguishes "we made a decision" from "three people in a thread agreed and a fourth person noticed three days later and re-opened it." The template below is closer in spirit to an ADR (architecture decision record) than to a meeting minutes document, but it works for any decision class — technical, organizational, process.

Most teams already know they should be writing these. The reason they don't is that the existing templates are too heavy. A five-page ADR template asks for so much context that engineers write it after the decision is made, badly, and the document becomes archaeological rather than load-bearing. This template is short on purpose.

When to use it

• Any decision that affects more than one engineer and is not easily reversible.
• Architecture or dependency choices that future hires will inherit.
• Process changes (on-call rotation, deploy cadence, review rules).
• Hiring rubric or interview loop changes.
• Any time you find yourself re-explaining a past decision more than twice.

The template structure

This is the structure of the template. Copy it into a Notion page, a Linear doc, or a markdown file in your repo — it works in any of them.

DECISION — [short imperative title]
Status:    [proposed / decided / superseded by #NNN]
Decider:   [name]
Date:      [date]
Reversible: [easily / with effort / no]

CONTEXT
  Two to four sentences. What is the situation that requires a decision?
  What constraints are real? Link to the problem statement if it lives
  somewhere else.

OPTIONS CONSIDERED
  A. [option]
     Pros:   [...]
     Cons:   [...]
  B. [option]
     Pros:   [...]
     Cons:   [...]
  C. [option]
     Pros:   [...]
     Cons:   [...]

DECISION
  We will [chosen option]. The single most important reason is [...].

CONSEQUENCES
  Expected good:  [...]
  Expected cost:  [...]
  Watch for:      [signal that would make us revisit]

DISSENT
  [name]: [summary of objection]
  [name]: [summary of objection]
  (or: "None recorded.")

DEADLINE FOR OBJECTION
  Comments welcome until [date]. After that, this is decided.

How to use it well

• The status field is load-bearing. "Proposed" means objection is invited. "Decided" means objection is escalation. "Superseded" means do not implement this document — link to the one that replaced it.
• Always list at least two options. If you only had one option, you did not make a decision — you described a constraint. A one-option document should be a technical note, not a decision record.
• Record dissent even when the decision goes ahead. "None recorded" is a valid value. What kills teams is suppressed dissent that resurfaces six months later as "I told you so." Put it on the record.
• Set a real deadline for objection. Two business days for routine decisions, one week for architectural ones. Without a deadline, decisions stay perpetually "proposed."
• Link the decision from the code that implements it. A comment in the relevant file pointing to the decision record turns the record into a living document instead of an archive.

What to skip

Skip the full ADR template if you are not already using ADRs. The version above covers the same ground in a third of the words and is closer to what teams actually maintain. You can always graduate to a heavier format later if the lighter one stops being enough.

Skip writing decision records for trivial decisions. Library choice for a one-off script does not need a record; choice of HTTP framework for the new service does. The litmus test is whether the next engineer will ask "why did we do it this way?" — if yes, write it down.

Frequently asked questions

Is this template free?

Yes. The structure above is the whole template. Many teams keep these in a /decisions folder in their main repo so they live next to the code they govern.

Can I edit it?

Yes. Teams that are formally tracking dissent for compliance reasons sometimes add a signature line. Teams that don't track dissent often drop the field. The skeleton is what matters.

Do I need to give my email?

Not to use the template. The download is the same content in Notion format; the email is for our newsletter.