Make a Decision Topic

Important decisions need a Topic.

A Topic turns “we need to decide” into an explicit, shared plan that people and agents can execute: evidence gathered, authority clear, rationale kept, all the way to the outcome.

No decision buried in chat
No agent acting without authority
No outcome without a record
qi.space/topics/milestone-4429
Topic · Decision
Approve Milestone 4 payment?

Evaluating evidence · 2 of 4 sources linked

Next
Review and approve
Review
You + Programme lead + Agentic Oracle
Illustrative example

The smallest container for a decision that matters.

A Topic starts with something you need to decide. You don’t need to know about agents, evidence chains or evaluation rubrics. You need to know what you’re deciding, and when it needs you.

Every Decision Topic can be understood with five questions. Qi keeps the answers current, so you never have to reconstruct them from a thread.

Milestone 4 payment — at a glance
What are we deciding?Should Milestone 4 payment release?
What needs to happen?Evidence reviewed, authority confirms
What’s happening now?2 of 4 evidence sources linked
Does this need me?Not yet
Did we decide?Not yet
Illustrative example

Decisions are the one kind of work you can’t afford to lose.

Tasks can be redone. Once a payment moves, someone’s hired, or an agent acts, there’s no undo. A decision needs a boundary: what you agreed to decide, on what evidence, under whose authority, kept intact.

  • The rationale disappears into a thread nobody can find again.
  • Nobody agreed on what “done” actually means.
  • An agent acted, and no one is quite sure why.
  • The next similar decision starts again from zero.

A Topic keeps the agreement, the evidence and the authority together, from the moment you start deciding to the moment it’s done.

From “we need to decide” to done.

Every Decision Topic moves through the same five moments.

1

Express

Say what you need to decide, in your own words.

“Has Milestone 4 been completed, and should payment release?”

2

Agree

Qi turns that into a short, human agreement — not a form.

Outcome: pay or don’t · Evidence: inspection, photos, claim · Authority: programme lead

3

Act

People and agents get to work inside the Topic. You’re not needed yet.

Agentic Oracle checks the evidence against the criteria.

4

Resolve

The decision gets made, on the record.

Approved · 12 of 12 criteria met · no dissent.

5

Learn

The Topic carries what it learned into the next one.

Qi remembers: milestone payments need photo evidence.

When it needs you, it says so. Clearly.

Qi doesn’t ask you to check in. It tells you exactly when a decision needs you, and gives you everything required to make the call in one place.

Identity: what this is.
State: where things stand.
Next: what matters right now.
Outcome: what was achieved.

Now · Decision required
Approve Milestone 4 payment?

12 of 12 criteria met · no dissent

Review Approve
Illustrative example

Built around what needs you, not everything that happened.

Most tools show you an activity feed and expect you to work out what matters. A Topic just tells you.

Needs you · 2
Approve Milestone 4 payment
Choose the preferred supplier
Illustrative example

Whatever you’re deciding, it’s still one Topic.

Different questions. The same explicit plan, evidence and authority underneath.

Which CRM to buy Whether to hire this candidate Whether this claim qualifies Which supplier to select Whether this milestone is complete Whether this investment makes sense Whether this outcome was achieved Whether this agent should be authorised

What decision needs a Topic?

Say what you need to decide. Respond when it needs you. Get the outcome, with the evidence and authority kept intact.

Make a Decision Topic

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