thread-to-decision-live

Thread to Decision (Live)

Decisions made in chat evaporate — three weeks later no one remembers what was agreed or who owns it. In Claude Cowork this skill reads the real thread, pins down the decision and its owners, and writes a durable record into Notion, with the source linked, so the agreement survives the scroll.

What This Skill Produces

• The decision record — the decision, the rationale, who decided, owners, next steps with dates, and open questions
• A Notion entry — the record written to the user's decision-log database (or an artifact if no DB is set)
• The confirmation loop — anything ambiguous flagged back to the user before it's logged as settled

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The thread/channel — a Slack link or the channel + rough time
• Where to log it — the Notion decision-log database (or produce an artifact to paste)
• The stakes — reversible-and-cheap vs one-way-door — depth of the record follows

Framework: What a Decision Record Needs

1. The decision — stated as a choice made, not a discussion had.
2. The rationale — the why, and the main alternative rejected.
3. Owners & next steps — who does what by when; a decision with no owner isn't one.
4. Open questions — what's still unresolved, so it isn't mistaken for settled.
5. Provenance — a link to the source thread and the date.

Execution (Cowork)

1. Read the thread — via the Slack connector, pull the full thread/channel window. Read every message; don't summarise from the first and last.
2. Distil — separate the decision from the debate. Identify who actually decided, the rationale, the owners named, and what stayed open.
3. Confirm the ambiguous — if the thread never clearly lands, say so and ask; never manufacture a decision that wasn't made.
4. Write to Notion — via the Notion connector, create an entry in the decision-log database with the fields above and the Slack permalink. If no DB is configured, emit the record as an artifact.
5. Report — link the new Notion entry and list any open questions still needing an owner.

Guardrails: don't invent a decision, an owner, or a date not present in the thread; distinguish "decided" from "leaning"; write only to the specified database; if a connector is unauthorised, produce the record inline and say what couldn't be written.

Output Format

A Decision Record:

Decision

> the choice made — one line

Decided by: … · Date: … · Reversibility: one-way / two-way

Rationale

• why; main alternative rejected and why

Owners & next steps

| Owner | Action | By |

|---|---|---|

Open questions

• … (needs an owner)

Source

• Slack thread: [link] · Logged to: [Notion entry]

Quality Checks

• [ ] The decision is stated as a choice, not a discussion summary
• [ ] Every owner/date comes from the thread, not invented
• [ ] "Decided" is distinguished from "still leaning / open"
• [ ] The source thread is linked and the record was written to the named destination
• [ ] Open questions are listed rather than smoothed over

Anti-Patterns

• Manufacturing a decision the thread never reached — flag it as unresolved.
• Assigning owners no one agreed to.
• Logging to the wrong place — write only to the specified DB.
• A summary of the chat instead of a decision record.

Example Trigger Phrases

• "Capture the decision from this Slack thread and log it in Notion."
• "Turn this discussion into a decision record."
• "What did we actually agree here? Write it to the decision log."
• "Close this thread out with owners and next steps in Cowork."