Website Development Decision Log
This is a practical guide to building a decision log for a website development project — a record of the key decisions made, by whom and why, adapted to the realities of designing and building a new website.
What a Decision Log is
A decision log is a record of the key decisions made, by whom and why. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Decision Log. On a website development project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Website Development project
Website Development projects live or die on designing and building a new website. A well-built decision log gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how website development projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Decision
- Date and owner
- Rationale
- Alternatives considered
- Impact
Website Development-specific considerations
Tailor the decision log to the risks that most often derail website development projects:
- Scope creep from stakeholder requests
- Content readiness delays
- Browser/device compatibility
Example
On a real website development project, the decision log would be shaped by designing and building a new website. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — scope creep from stakeholder requests, content readiness delays, browser/device compatibility — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.