Concept
Decision Playlist
A decision playlist is a short, reusable set of questions you run through before a choice, so you look for options in other people's solutions and in your own bright spots instead of only in your own head.
Chip and Dan Heath observed that when we face a choice, we brainstorm alone and stop at the first two or three options. The fix is not more creativity. It is a better search routine. A playlist turns that routine into a few fixed questions you ask every time. Who has already solved a problem like this? Where is it already less bad, and what is different there? What would I do if my current options disappeared? Because the questions are written down in advance, you don't need inspiration to use them. You just run the list. Companies use playlists so a good idea from one team reaches another. You can keep one for career, money or family decisions. Keep it short enough to finish in ten minutes, or you'll start skipping it.
A real-life example
Maya leads a software team whose releases keep slipping. Her only options were "hire" or "cut scope," so she ran her playlist. Who solved this? A friend's team ships weekly by freezing features two days before release. Where is it already better? Last quarter's one on-time release had a single owner for testing. She tried both ideas on the next sprint and took hiring off the table for now.
How to use it
- 1Write three to five questions on one card: Who solved this already? Where is it less bad? What if my options vanished? What would I tell a friend?
- 2Before any decision bigger than a weekend plan, run the list and write down at least one new option per question.
- 3After the decision, add any question that produced a surprisingly good idea, and drop the ones that never help.