WhatsApp Decision Log: Capture Every Agreement

WhatsApp is where decisions happen now. A quick "ok let's do option B" or a thumbs-up emoji on a voice note, and suddenly the direction has changed.

The problem is that WhatsApp is not where decisions are stored. Two weeks later, someone remembers it differently, and you are scrolling through hundreds of messages trying to find the line where everyone agreed.

A decision log prevents that. It is a simple document that turns scattered agreements into a single source of truth: what was decided, who decided it, when, and what comes next.

When you need a decision log

You do not need a decision log for every chat. You need one when the stakes matter:

• You and a business partner are making financial commitments over WhatsApp
• A client is approving scope changes in a group chat
• A vendor negotiation has gone through multiple rounds of "ok, but what about..."
• A team is making project decisions across voice notes and text, and nobody wrote a summary
• You are heading into a dispute and need to establish what was actually agreed

In all of these cases, the cost of confusion is higher than the cost of spending 10 minutes building a log.

What goes into a decision log

A useful decision log captures five things per decision:

1. What was decided in plain language, not a copy-paste of the message
2. Who was involved in the decision (not just who sent the message, but who confirmed)
3. When it was decided so you can establish sequence
4. The context that makes the decision unambiguous: constraints, conditions, or alternatives that were rejected
5. The next step that comes out of it, with an owner

Without context, a decision log becomes a list of statements that can be reinterpreted. With context, it becomes a record.