Unit 5 · Lesson 19 of 20
Explain a design decision clearly
Write a short decision record linking evidence, options, choice, and review trigger.
01 / Learn
Learn the method
Fictional case
The clinic team has a tested kiosk revision and a staged plan for queue integration.
Terms for this lesson
- Decision record
- A short account of a choice, its evidence, and its review trigger.
- Assumption
- A condition the team expects to hold while choosing an approach.
- Review trigger
- An observation or event that prompts the team to revisit the decision.
A decision record lets colleagues understand a choice and revisit it when conditions change. Begin with the patient's task and the observed difficulty. Follow with the evidence that matters: receipt timing, queue timing, patient interpretation, and the prototype findings. Each item should support a part of the reasoning.
Present credible alternatives fairly. The clinic compared a kiosk receipt, a phone message, and a staffed confirmation route. Summarize what each offers and which condition shapes its use. Then explain the chosen first release in terms of patient understanding, access, privacy, and operational feasibility.
State remaining uncertainty and a check after release. The prototype study revealed how six patients used the flow in a simulated lobby. Routine clinic sessions will show broader demand for reception help and repeat check-in. Give the owner and date for reviewing those signals.
Keep the record short enough for a team meeting. A useful structure is problem, evidence, options, recommendation, dependencies, and review trigger. Link the deeper case artifacts for readers who need to inspect the detail.
Use the method
- Open with the patient task, observed difficulty, and evidence.
- Compare credible options and state the recommended release.
- Name owners, assumptions, and an observable review trigger.
A strong recommendation stays reviewable because its evidence, assumptions, owner, and trigger are visible.
- GOV.UK Service Manual: Sharing user research findings ↗Bring evidence into team decisions while it can still affect the work.
- Nielsen Norman Group: Making Usability Findings Actionable ↗Report an observed issue with context and a direction the team can use.
- Nielsen Norman Group: Problem Statements in UX Discovery ↗Frame affected people, the problem, and consequence while leaving unproven causes open.
02 / See the reasoning
Worked example
The designer recommends receipt-backed kiosk wording and a staffed delayed route for the current release. The record links Mira's field note, receipt and queue timestamps, and the six-session prototype findings. It explains why a phone message remains an option for later study. Engineering owns the receipt trigger; operations owns reception lookup; the team reviews status questions after four weeks.
Try a decision →03 / Decide
Guided decision
Which opening gives a decision record the strongest foundation?
Feedback on your choice
What could change the answer: A later service release that gives reception immediate visibility could change the role of the staffed delay route.
Use this feedback to examine your choice and written reasoning.
Build your case file →04 / Build the case
Your case file
Fictional case update
Four weeks after launch, reception logs show fewer status questions during the morning and a similar number during evening sessions.
Evidence and constraints
- Fictional current evidence: Mira asks reception after reading Done; receipt and queue timestamps show a delay.
- Fictional prototype evidence: two of six patients treated a delayed state as completed check-in before the revision.
- Fictional release plan: kiosk copy changes now; queue integration follows later.
- Fictional follow-up: morning status questions fall after launch; evening questions remain similar.
Add this result to the decision record as a follow-up. State one evening-session question and the next owner action.
Create: A one-page decision record with linked evidence, alternatives, recommendation, owners, and review trigger.
A colleague can follow the chain from patient evidence to choice and see the condition for revisiting it.
- The problem and evidence appear before the recommendation.
- Alternatives receive a fair account.
- An owner and observable review trigger close the record.
The final lesson applies the full method to a new service and its own evidence packet.
Lesson complete
You added to your case file.
You studied the method, practiced a decision, and added an artifact to your case file. Carry that reasoning into the next lesson.
05 / Keep working