Common Decision Rules

If you want to create alignment and help move people toward a common goal then the team needs to have a clear indicator of when a decision is reached, how it is reached and whose input is required. This creates transparency, supports self-management, and helps with building agreements everyone can support. Of course, not every decision rule is always suitable. Every decision rule has its strengths and challenges and you will need to decide which is best for you to try depending on your context. Your context is key.

In this article we share common decision rules that Scrum Teams can consider based on Sam Kaner’s book, The Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision Making: unanimous agreement, majority vote, person-in-charge decides after discussion, person-in-charge decides without discussion, and delegation.

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Making Clearer Decisions using Decision Rules

Scrum Teams need to make decisions all the time. Helping teams reach a decision effectively, and gaining necessary buy-in from all team members can be challenging, especially when team members are unclear on who has the final say in making it. Understanding the decision rule, how a decision is made and whose input is required, is necessary because ambiguity in the decision process causes confusion and frustration.