Track strategic decisions and when to revisit them
Stand up a **Decision Log** agent. Keep your strategy one-pager and **ideas we discussed this half** in context. Paste new fragments as they appear. Emit rows for **Idea**, **why it looked attractive**, **reason set aside**, and **revisit trigger**. Rerun quarterly and diff only what changed.
Plus: three Admin-Agent passes: freeze log columns from your strategy excerpt alone, stress-test revisit triggers until each names an observable signal or calendar window, and produce a quarterly **delta brief** capped at five changed rows.
| Audience | Everyone · Admins · Executives |
|---|---|
| Time | ~15 min |
| Prerequisites | Agent basics ([Create an agent from scratch](/tutorials/create-an-agent-from-scratch), [Give your agent its job description](/tutorials/give-your-agent-its-job-description)). A strategy or priorities excerpt in context ([Add your first context file](/tutorials/add-your-first-context-file)). Helpful: portfolio honesty ([Run a quarterly initiative audit from scattered notes](/tutorials/run-a-quarterly-initiative-audit-from-notes)), weekly signal habit ([Roll up initiative threads into weekly goal check-ins](/tutorials/roll-up-initiative-threads-into-weekly-goal-check-ins)). |
| You'll end up with | A **Decision Log** agent, one markdown table with set-aside reasons tied to pasted quotes or **UNKNOWN**, explicit **revisit triggers** per set-aside idea, and a dated quarterly **DELTA_ONLY** note you can file beside planning archives. |
When a tutorial shows italic text in quotation marks, it usually mirrors a label or helper string inside Auxot. Product copy changes between releases — if something reads differently in your workspace, trust what you see on screen.
Callouts with a Worth knowing gold accent are meant as must-read context before you move on. Blockquotes that open with Tip are lighter, optional depth.
Why this matters
Strategy conversations invent options. Operating reality quietly sidelines most of them without writing down why or when to reopen. Six months later the same idea returns with amnesia. Finance asks why you chased shiny objects. Product asks why you froze on the obvious idea.
A strategic decision log is not a roadmap (a sequenced plan of what ships when). It is the honest appendix: ideas your team considered attractive, why your team set it aside, and what signal would reopen the file. That pair (reason set aside + revisit trigger) is what keeps debate from resetting to zero.
Today you build an agent that formats that appendix from sources you paste: exec notes, board bullets, planning threads, or planning-doc excerpts. Auxot does not attend your meetings alone. You decide what enters the log.
The next time someone revives last year’s idea, you have the prior reason-set-aside on paper plus the trigger that earns a serious replay.
Quick start
- Seed context: store your shortest strategy one-pager or objectives list plus a scratch section for ideas discussed this half (Add your first context file).
- Create Decision Log: ask the Admin Agent in Chat for an agent whose instructions output a markdown table with IDEA_LABEL, WHY_ATTRACTIVE, SET_ASIDE_REASON, REVISIT_TRIGGER, and SOURCES_QUOTED (paste fragments only).
- Paste new material: when a brainstorm produces candidates, paste three to eight bullets. Let the agent propose rows. You edit set-aside reasons until they name decisions or constraints, not people.
- Review: reject rows whose revisit trigger is when we feel ready. Replace with observable signals (metric threshold, budget cycle, regulatory date, ship milestone).
- Quarterly rerun: paste last quarter’s log plus anything new. Ask for DELTA_ONLY (changed rows, reopened decisions, newly set-aside ideas). Optional reminder (Run a workflow) can ping you only.
Done? At least one REVISIT_TRIGGER row that names a date band or metric band. That is proof the column is doing work.
The agent can do that?
You logged set-asides once. These three prompts keep the log from becoming nostalgia storage.
1. Column contract before rows
Chat → Admin Agent:
Paste strategy excerpt only: […]. Define four log columns in plain English (WHY_ATTRACTIVE, SET_ASIDE_REASON, REVISIT_TRIGGER, SOURCES_QUOTED). Ten lines max. Each column includes **bad example** (forbidden pattern). Markdown. No log rows yet.
Why it’s non-obvious: Without forbidden patterns, SET_ASIDE_REASON becomes not a priority. Naming anti-patterns trains honest set-asides because you wrote the rubric first.
2. Revisit trigger torture test
Log draft pasted: […]. For each REVISIT_TRIGGER, append **TEST**: would two directors disagree on whether the trigger fired — if yes, rewrite trigger until **TEST** reads **no** — max two sentences each row — markdown.
Why it’s non-obvious: Vague triggers resurrect debates instead of decisions. Binary clarity saves calendar time because you forced observability.
3. Inverted revive audit
Assume three set-aside ideas deserve revival next quarter. Argue against each revival using only SET_ASIDE_REASON text — max four bullets total — end with **KEEP_ASIDE** or **REOPEN_WORTHY** — brutal tone — markdown.
Why it’s non-obvious: Teams revive ideas for politics. Forcing prosecution-first language surfaces whether the set-aside still holds before slide decks return.
Go deeper
Initiative oxygen vs idea cemetery
Run a quarterly initiative audit from scattered notes asks what portfolio items breathed this quarter. The decision log holds options you set aside. Pair both documents in the same folder. Different questions. Same executive sponsor.
Weekly threads
Roll up initiative threads into weekly goal check-ins surfaces momentum signals that sometimes become REVISIT_TRIGGER facts.
Leadership narrative
Brief leadership on your agent program tone discipline helps when the log feeds board or investor conversations.
Longer arcs
Plan your first 90 days with your agents sequencing fits adjacent planning rhythms. Keep agent set separate unless you intend one archive.
Walkthrough
Step 1: Cap idea labels
Long paragraphs hide weak reasons. IDEA_LABEL stays under eight words.
Step 2: Separate UNKNOWN
When SET_ASIDE_REASON lacks evidence, mark UNKNOWN and schedule human research outside Chat.
Step 3: Pair with calendar reality
If triggers ignore fiscal-year budgets, add BUDGET_WINDOW explicitly or admit UNKNOWN.
Step 4: Archive quarterly
Save markdown with quarter suffix. Diff files instead of rereading infinite scrollback.
Step 5: Version triggers
When strategy shifts, bump a LOG_VERSION note in context so old set-asides do not pretend they share assumptions with new strategy text.
What’s next
- → Run a quarterly initiative audit from scattered notes. Portfolio Pursued / Thin / Absent pairs with ideas we set aside in the log.
- → Recover vanished meeting commitments with owners and drafts you send. Strategic decisions surface in minutes — tag said-once rows before they poison your decision-log story.
- → Roll up initiative threads into weekly goal check-ins. Weekly receipts sometimes validate or falsify revisit triggers.
- → Add your first context file. Strategy excerpt plus log instructions belong here. Refresh when leadership edits priorities.
- → Brief leadership on your agent program. Decision-log deltas suit exec summaries when ideas reopen or stay paused on schedule.
- → Run a workflow. Optional reminder for quarterly delta review.
Reference
- Pages in Auxot: Chat, Settings → Agents, Settings → Context Files, and Workflows
- See also: Design cross-functional handoff templates from thread misses, Recover vanished meeting commitments with owners and drafts you send, Plan your first 90 days with your agents, Run a vendor and stack creep inventory, Audit and clean up your agents