DCI Framework

A great decision-making process that helps you gain consensus and drive better decisions.

The What

Decision Maker — Individual(s) who makes the decision and is accountable for its impact on the business

Consulted — Individual(s) accountable for providing guidance based on functional expertise and experience, highlighting issues and raising alternatives to support the Decision Maker

Informed — Impacted stakeholder(s) are notified after the decision has been made and who will need to support the execution of the decision

The How

Step 1: The Decision Maker to prepare a document with context, goals, options, driving factors, constraints (people, cost, time, quality, etc)

• Clarify the problem to be solved.

• Share the constraints that facing.

• Quantify each option in a format that has pros & cons for simple scenarios or decision metrics for complex ones.

Step 2: The Decision Maker to consult with people from various functions.

• Confirm context & goals & constraints

• Captures a variety of opinions and ideas from individuals

• Polish each option with related experts via meeting, slack, document

Step 3: The Decision Maker to revisit these options and makes a trade off

• It should be very clear who is making the decision.

• The Decision Maker can be anyone, and it doesn’t or shouldn’t have to be the leader or the manger.

• It helps drive ownership and accountability.

Step 4: The Decision Maker to inform the decision to relevant people

• Engage the relevant people.

• A decision needs to be executed eventually.

Pro Tips

• All these steps can be done via a shared document, meetings, or both. I found async communication + regrouping at to be more effective.

• You want to engage the “right” amount of people — having everybody in a meeting doesn’t help at all. Don’t do that.

• Prevents one person from holding the meeting hostage or allowing others to agree but not contribute.

• Encourages more open thinking vs. driving consensus

• Keep a record.

• Sharing back is equally important.

✅ Exceptions

🔴 Red Flags

📜 Tips

🕳️ Pitfalls