DECISION GATE STANDARD v2.0
The Impact-First Decision Standard
Status of This Document
This document defines Decision Gate as an open, educational standard for responsible decision-making.
It may be cited, taught, translated, and adapted, provided that its meaning, structure, and intent are preserved.
Decision Gate:
is not privately owned,
does not require a license,
is not a commercial product.
The authority of Decision Gate comes from clarity, simplicity, and responsible use, not from hierarchy or formal power.
1. Canonical Definition
Decision Gate is a conscious decision pause — a clearly named moment in which a team, an organization, or an individual makes a responsible decision before committing time, money, energy, attention, or other people.
Decision Gate marks the moment when responsibility enters the system.
Decision Gate:
is not a process,
is not a methodology,
is not a framework.
Decision Gate is a decision act that precedes action, sets direction, and reveals consequences.
Without a Decision Gate, action may begin, but responsibility remains undefined.
2. Purpose and Origin
Modern systems operate:
fast,
at scale,
with increasing levels of automation.
Organizations:
deliver continuously,
decide quickly,
automate aggressively.
At the same time, they increasingly fail to ask the fundamental question:
Should we do this?
The consequences are systemic:
products cause unintended harm,
teams experience burnout,
decisions have no owner,
AI systems are deployed without accountability,
activity replaces real value creation
Decision Gate was created as a minimal standard of responsibility in a world of:
complexity,
irreversible consequences,
scaling impact,
human–algorithm interaction.
3. What Decision Gate Is NOT
Decision Gate:
is not backlog refinement,
is not a review or approval meeting,
is not managerial consent,
is not bureaucracy,
is not a compliance or governance checklist.
Decision Gate does not prescribe solutions.
Decision Gate asks two fundamental questions:
Should we act?
Are we ready to take responsibility for the consequences?
Decision Gate does not decide WHAT to do.
Decision Gate decides WHETHER to act and WHY.
4. When to Use Decision Gate
Decision Gate should be considered whenever a decision:
affects other people,
consumes time, money, energy, or attention,
is difficult or costly to reverse,
scales beyond a single team,
involves automation or artificial intelligence,
changes the reality of users, customers, or employees.
If a decision has impact, it deserves a Decision Gate.
5. Placement Rule
Decision Gate is always placed BEFORE commitment, never after delivery.
Commitment includes, but is not limited to:
locking a backlog,
releasing funding,
scaling a solution,
finalizing architecture or design,
announcing an organizational change,
delegating a decision to an algorithm or AI system.
6. The Four Mandatory Decision Questions
Every Decision Gate is based on four questions that must be answered.
Why?
What real problem are we trying to solve?
What happens if we do NOT make this decision?
For whom?
Who will experience the consequences of this decision?
Who benefits?
Who may lose — directly or indirectly?
What cost are we willing to accept?
What costs do we incur now, later, and in hidden forms?
Costs may be:
technical,
human,
organizational,
social,
ethical.
Who takes responsibility?
Who specifically and by name takes responsibility for the consequences — including negative, unintended, and delayed ones?
Responsibility:
cannot be anonymous,
cannot be collective,
cannot be abstract.
If any of these questions remains unanswered, the Decision Gate is invalid.
7. The Decision Gate Process (Non-Modifiable)
Decision Gate always follows five steps:
Name the decision
Assess the impact
Assess risk and potential harm
Check alternatives (including “do nothing”)
Make the decision
Steps must not be skipped or reordered.
8. Roles
Every Decision Gate requires:
a Decision Owner — accountable for the decision and its consequences
a Facilitator — responsible for process clarity and timeboxing
Contributors — people providing facts and input
No Decision Owner means PAUSE.
9. Decision Gate Outcomes (Exactly Four)
Every Decision Gate ends with one and only one outcome:
GO
The action is conscious and accepted. Execution begins.
CHANGE
The direction is valid, but conditions, scope, or form must change.
PAUSE
The decision is postponed until missing information is obtained (with a return date).
KILL
The decision is stopped and resources are released.
There is no fifth option.
Lack of a decision is not an outcome.
10. Decision Discipline
the outcome must be stated explicitly,
the outcome must be recorded,
the outcome must have an owner.
If there is no record, no decision was made.
11. Decision Gate and Speed
Decision Gate does not slow organizations down.
Decision Gate:
eliminates false acceleration,
reduces rework,
prevents irreversible harm.
The greatest cost is not slow action, but fast wrong decisions.
12. Decision Gate in Teams and Organizations
Decision Gate:
requires no certification,
requires no tools,
requires no formal structure.
It can be used:
individually,
by teams,
at executive level.
The only requirement is willingness to take responsibility.
13. Decision Gate and Artificial Intelligence
In AI-driven systems, Decision Gate is critical.
AI:
accelerates decisions,
obscures causality,
diffuses responsibility.
Decision Gate establishes the rule:
Responsibility always remains with a human.
If an algorithm executes a decision, the Decision Gate must belong to a human.
This is not a technical pattern.
It is an ethical requirement.
14. Canonical Statements
Decision Gate marks the moment when responsibility enters the system.
Without a decision, there is no gate.
Without a gate, there is no impact.
If there is no responsible decision, the gate remains closed.
15. Minimal Usage
Minimal use of Decision Gate consists of five actions:
Stop before acting.
Ask the four questions.
Name the decision.
Assign responsibility.
Act — or do not act.
Nothing more is required.
16. Legal Status and Openness
Decision Gate is an open educational standard.
This document may be used organizationally and educationally, provided that its meaning and intent are preserved.
Decision Gate is not a process.
Decision Gate is a responsible decision.
17. Closing
Decision Gate does not end decision-making.
Decision Gate begins responsibility.
In a world where decisions scale instantly, AI amplifies consequences, and outcomes extend beyond intent, Decision Gate is not optional.
It is the minimal standard of responsibility.
