Practical guide · Jonathan Malchow Vega
Give a decision a reason to come back
Use changes in scope and evidence to decide when a past choice needs review.
A date is only one trigger
A review date puts a decision back on the calendar. A change can make review necessary sooner. Record both: a date and the conditions that would reopen the question. Useful conditions include a new data type, a different supplier, a wider audience, or evidence that an assumption was wrong.
Worked example: the trial expands
This fictional example is not a client case study. A team approved a tool trial using public samples. A colleague later proposes using customer messages. The original approval does not answer the new question. The data and possible consequences have changed, so the owner pauses the proposed expansion and sends the new scope to the decision maker.
Name the assumption
The trial record said that inputs would be public and that a person would check every output. Those statements are conditions, not permanent facts. A review should ask whether each still holds. If nobody can confirm an assumption, record the uncertainty and the next action rather than carrying the old approval forward automatically.
Record the outcome of review
A review may continue, narrow, replace, or end the original decision. Keep a link between the old and new records so a colleague can see which choice applied at a particular time. Record who decided, the evidence considered, and what operators need to do differently.
Make the reminder usable
Assign one person to monitor the trigger and one location for the current decision. An unowned date in a spreadsheet is easy to miss. Start with one consequential decision, agree on the review conditions, and test whether the responsible person knows how to reopen it.