A decision log is a shared record of all key decisions made throughout the app development process—like tech choices, feature changes, or design pivots—along with the reasons behind them.
Keeps teams aligned by tracking why key decisions were made
Reduces miscommunication and repeated debates
Speeds up onboarding of new team members
Helps prevent scope creep or feature drift
Enhances project transparency for stakeholders
You're finalising major design or technology choices
You're planning handovers or team transitions
You're assessing the impact of scope changes
You're running retrospectives or stakeholder reviews
You're maintaining long-term projects with multiple phases
In the project, our team used a decision log to record important tech stack choices and design compromises. This helped keep all team members, clients, and stakeholders on the same page across development cycles—especially when teams changed mid-project.
Don’t rely on memory for major calls. A quick entry in a decision log now can save hours of future rework and disagreements later.
Decision ID / Timestamp – Tracks when each decision was made
Owner / Stakeholder – Who made or signed off on it
Rationale – Why the decision was made
Impact Area – What the decision affects (feature, timeline, UX, etc.)
Revisits / Updates – Whether it has been revisited or changed
Notion / Confluence – For structured collaborative logs
Trello / Jira – For tagging decisions within agile workflows
Google Sheets / Docs – Simple and shareable tracking options
Decision logs are becoming more interactive—with AI helping summarise outcomes, link decisions to metrics, and map their downstream effects. Expect these logs to become essential in scaling agile, distributed teams.
Project Roadmap – Often influenced by decision log entries
Product Backlog – May shift based on logged choices
Agile Development – Frequent decisions = frequent logging
Stakeholder Interview – Key source of early decisions
Code Review – Can include decision validations
Still unsure how to track critical choices in your app journey? [Book a discovery call] with our team — we’ll help you create a clear, easy-to-use decision log.