The Decision Record · Practical · 04 pieces
Guides and decision frameworks for technology leaders
Frameworks turn a decision into a method: what to check, in which order and what a good answer looks like. Guides explain a subject fully, then tell you what to do with it.
For concepts and comparisons, start from the journal homepage.
Understand it, then act on it
01 / Guides
Guide
Technical due diligence checklist: how to prepare before investors look
Technical due diligence rewards companies that know their own system. This guide explains what investors and acquirers examine, gives you a ten-area checklist and a data-room index, and shows which red flags to fix before anyone asks.
You leave withA ten-area preparation checklist, a data-room index and a list of red flags to fix first.
7 min read
Guide
What does a CTO do? The five accountabilities behind the title
The title tells you very little. What matters is which decisions the CTO owns and answers for. This guide breaks the role into five accountabilities you can check against your own company.
You leave withA five-part accountability map and a checklist to see which parts of the CTO role your company has covered.
7 min read
Topic: Technology leadership
Decide with a method
02 / Decision frameworks
Decision framework
Build vs buy software: a decision framework for founders and CTOs
Build versus buy is really a question about where to spend scarce engineering attention. This framework replaces the usual debate with five questions, a decision matrix and a scorecard you can take into the meeting.
You leave withFive questions, a decision matrix, a weighted scorecard and a cost checklist for both paths.
6 min read
Topic: Strategy & investment
Decision framework
How to build a technology roadmap your team and board will believe
Most technology roadmaps fail in one of two ways: they are feature lists with dates, or strategy documents nobody can execute. This framework builds one that connects business outcomes to engineering work, and stays honest as plans change.
You leave withA seven-step method, a one-page roadmap structure and a monthly review routine.
7 min read
Topic: Strategy & investment
