Concepts
The Decision Record
What a Decision Record holds, why each part is there, and who reads it later.
Before you start
A Decision Record is what SwiftCNS produces. It's the answer to "why did we do that?", written at the time by the people who decided, linked to the evidence they had.
Steps
The question
The choice being made, as a question: "Should we build the $79/month Team plan?"
The basis
The assumption that was tested, the experiment, the success criteria (fixed when the experiment was approved), the evidence snapshot and the Learning with its result. Each is linked, not copied, so you can open the original.
The decision
The choice (Move forward, Change course, Test again or Drop it), why and what happens next in the recorder's own words, who recorded it and when.
The history
If a later decision replaces it, both stay on record and link to each other.
What you get
Decision Recordsample data
Should we build the $79/month Team plan?
- assumption
Trial teams that try to invite a teammate will pay $79 a month for a shared workspace.
- experiment
Paid Team offer at invite: when a trial team clicks invite, offer the first month of a shared workspace for $79 through a payment link, and set up sharing by hand for teams that pay.
- success criteria · fixed on approval
At least 3 of the first 15 trial teams that see the offer pay $79 within 7 days of seeing it.
- evidence
4 of 15 teams paid within 7 days; a fifth paid on day 10. Every team that paid had invited 3 or more teammates.Met
- learning
Trial teams will pay to share. Teams of three or more are the ones paying; two-person teams said $79 is too much for two people.
Move forward
Build a minimal billing path for the $79 Team plan and keep setting up sharing by hand until it's automated. Track whether paying teams renew after the first month, and test a lower price for two-person teams separately.
Recorded by the experiment owner · sample data
Who reads it:
- Your team, months later, before re-testing the same idea.
- Your agents, before proposing the next experiment.
- People outside the team (investors, partners, a new hire) who need the reasoning, not the meeting.
Done when
- Someone who wasn't there can tell what was decided, on what evidence, and why.
Common mistakes
- Recording only the decision. "We're not building it" without the evidence is a memo, not a record.
- Recording a decision with no evidence cited. Allowed, but then it's an opinion on the record, not a tested call.
For agents: MCP tools and gotchas
- Read:
get_decision,list_decisions; resourceswiftcns://projects/{projectId}/decisions/{decisionId}. - Write:
prepare_decision_reviewthensubmit_decision(operation: "record"or"cancel"). Recording doesn't execute the chosen action.