Core tool

Decision Modes Map

match the approach to the decision

what it is

Match the approach to the decision

Not every decision needs the same approach. Sorting a decision by its nature — before you dive in — saves you from over-thinking the obvious or trying to analyse the genuinely unknowable. It's a lightweight take on Cynefin: four modes, and the way of working that fits each.

the four modes

Four kinds of decision

Predictable

Cause and effect are clear; you've seen this before. Follow the known process or good practice — don't reinvent it.

Expert

Knowable, but it needs analysis or know-how. Get the right expertise or advice, weigh the options, then decide.

Complex

No right answer in advance — the path emerges. Run small, safe-to-try experiments, sense what happens, and adapt.

Chaotic

A crisis, with no time to analyse. Act now to stabilise, restore some order, then re-sort the decision into another mode.

how to use it

Sort, then match

Name the decision

Say plainly what you're actually deciding.

Ask which mode

Do we know how this works? Could an expert tell us? Is it genuinely uncertain? Are we in a crisis right now?

Match your approach

Process for predictable, advice for expert, experiments for complex, stabilise-first for chaotic.

Watch for false certainty

Treating a complex issue as if it were predictable — applying a tidy process to a messy problem — is the classic, costly trap.

resilience

Why this matters

A resilient organisation is Decisive: it keeps an eye on what's changing and is prepared to act — partly because it doesn't treat every decision the same way.

The mistake is rarely the decision itself — it's using the wrong mode to make it. Sorting first is most of the work.