Documenting the decision process is as important as actually making a decision.

Only through documenting both the process and the results of the process can the reasons for a decision be adequately captured and communicated. This is true for a number of reasons:

The act of documenting ensures that peoples' views and knowledge are captured instead of lost.

Without documentation, a year after a decision is made, it can be difficult to say why a certain path was taken, particularly if something has changed to bring it into question.

Often, we have to convince others that we have made the correct decision and without documentation that can be challenging or impossible.

Finally, if it turns out that the decision was wrong, one can review the process and the steps along the way and identify where things went astray. This way, the mistakes of the past need not be repeated.