The Decision Lattice is a working model for making decisions under high stakes when evidence is incomplete, time is short, and the cost of waiting is non-trivial. It is an executive tool, not a research artifact. The lattice has three axes (constraint, optionality, reversibility) and four lanes (now, later, not now, not us).
This page documents v0.1. Future revisions will tighten the operational guidance for each lane.
The three axes
Constraint — what is fixed in the next 30 days. Budget, headcount, regulator-imposed deadlines, contract clauses, vendor lock-in. If you cannot move it within the decision horizon, it goes here.
Optionality — what reversible levers remain. Pricing changes, scope reductions, vendor swaps, hiring pauses. Optionality is what you want to preserve when in doubt.
Reversibility — what is one-way. Public commitments, RIFs, system migrations that destroy the prior state. Reversible decisions can move fast; one-way decisions must move carefully.