What information is essential? Obviously this depends on the situation, but there is a core of task and team related information that significantly affects to the quality of workplace decisions. This information falls into two broad categories:

Essential Coordination Information
(to provide a broad framework)

• The context (how the decision fits into the bigger picture)
• Relationships (links) between goals
• Relationships (links) between tasks
• Relationships (links) between teams
• Aggregated task/project progress
• Aggregated task/activity based costs
• Interpersonal relationships (usually unique to a given situation) see note below

Key Task Information
(at a task level)

• Goal (outcome) - what is to be achieved
• Assumptions – that affect how the task is done
• Objectives (outputs) – what success looks like (including measurable performance indicators)
• Actions – how the task is to be done, by who and when, plus actions already completed
• People – the person responsible, team members (directly involved), and other people (indirectly involved)
• Resources – beyond those normally available
• Costs – task/activity costs
• Notes – the ability to record special information about the task

Research and experience has shown that the above information represents a generic core of essential decision making information. This information needs to be immediately available to allow sound uninterrupted workplace decision-making.

Note:
Information on interpersonal relationships also affects decision-making, but this information is usually unique to a specific workplace situation. This method acknowledges the importance of interpersonal relationships, and provides a sound basis for their consideration by providing a means to manage all other essential information. Each manager needs to incorporate interpersonal relationship information into his or her decision making.