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Decide with BEAR
Ten minutes alone, thirty with your team, or a few with Bear Decide. The same four steps every time.
Three ways to run it
Alone
About 10 minutes
For a decision you can undo cheaply. One line per heading. Write Assumed and Missing before you write Resolve.
With your team
30 minutes
When more than one person has a stake. One person chairs, one writes, and nobody argues for an option until Assess.
With Bear Decide
A few minutes
When you're too close to see your own assumptions. Bear writes it up, and you can bring that to the meeting as the first draft.
The 30-minute team meeting
There are three roles. The chair keeps time and parks options that come too early. The writer holds the sheet and asks “could we show someone?” before anything goes under Known. The owner says the Resolve line and answers for it.
Baseline · minutes 0 to 5
The chair reads out the decision, the goal, the limits and the date. The room corrects it until everyone agrees. No options yet.
Evidence · minutes 5 to 15
Go round the room. Every point goes under Known, Assumed, Uncertain, Missing or Contradictory. The room picks the list, not the person who raised it.
Assess · minutes 15 to 25
Now the options, including waiting and doing nothing. Use only evidence already on the sheet. End with one sentence naming the trade-off.
Resolve · minutes 25 to 30
The owner says decided, leaning or not yet, and why. The owner decides, not a vote. Each missing item gets a name against it.
An example
An invented six-person design studio in Pune is offered a year of steady work at 20% below its usual rate. The founder is for it. The senior designer is against.
In Evidence, the room finds that nobody has estimated the hours the work needs. The client's email says “light-touch”, but the scope lists eleven deliverables a month. In Assess, a third option comes up: counter at 10% below rate, with a written cap on deliverables.
LeaningLeaning counter-offer. The senior designer estimates the real hours by Thursday. Neither of the two options the room walked in with won.
What the format doesn't fix
A vote isn't a Resolve line. One person says it and answers for it. If people argue options during Evidence, the chair has to park them every time. A people decision needs the same checks for every candidate. And when a decision needs a lawyer, a CA or an engineer, this gets you to them with a clean sheet.
Try Bear Decide
Type the decision below. Bear asks what it still needs, sorts the evidence and writes up where it leans. Bring that to the meeting and spend the thirty minutes checking it. Try for free.