Time Core · Golden Opportunities · Module

The record

What was taken, what was declined and what happened afterwards — the only way to know whether the organisation’s judgement is any good.

The idea

How it works

Without a record, an organisation remembers its successes and reconstructs its declines. Hindsight makes past judgement look better than it was, in both directions.

A short entry per decision — what was decided, why, and what was expected — makes it possible to establish years later whether the judgement was sound.

Working with it

In practice

  1. 01

    Record the reasoning, not just the decision

    What was believed at the time. That is what can be assessed later; the outcome alone cannot.

  2. 02

    Record the declines too

    They are the more informative half and the half nobody keeps.

  3. 03

    Check them years later

    What happened to the ones you declined. It is uncomfortable and it calibrates.

  4. 04

    Look for the pattern

    Systematic over-caution or over-enthusiasm is correctable once visible and invisible without a record.

One level in

The components of the record

A component is something that exists afterwards which did not exist before — a deliverable or a mechanism, not an intention.

  1. The decisions

    What was taken and what was declined, with the reasoning.

    Learn
  2. The expectation

    What was expected to happen, recorded at the time.

    Learn
  3. The review

    What actually happened, checked later.

    Learn

Check what happened to the opportunities you declined. It is uncomfortable and it is the only thing that calibrates.