Installing a decision process
The usual way a manager of managers intervenes in a cross-team technical decision. Before giving any opinion, they set out the criteria, the evidence required, a named decider and a date, so that the decision is better and the organisation keeps the capability.
Evidence grade: practice A widely adopted practitioner model with clear provenance.
Use it when
A decision that crosses team boundaries with material consequences, cannot be reversed at department scale, is deadlocked, or quietly commits the whole department.
Where it stops working
It is slower than giving the answer. In a real emergency, giving the answer is the intervention.
Where the standard uses it
- TJ-4Technical credibility and interventionStaying close enough to judge, and knowing when to step in.
Used alongside it
- One-way and two-way doors practice
- Systems understanding over currency practice
- Task-relevant maturity practice
- The executive docket practice
- The intervention threshold practice
Cite this model
Chicago, BibTeX and licence →Engineering Management Academy. (2026). Installing a decision process. In Engineering Management Academy Body of Knowledge (Version 3.1, TEC.installing-a-decision-process). https://www.engineeringmanagement.academy/body-of-knowledge/techniques/installing-a-decision-process