Documentação de Decisões vs. Documentação Geral: Qual a Diferença?

Not All Documentation Is Created Equal

When teams realize they have a "documentation problem," the first instinct is usually to reach for a general-purpose tool. Notion, Confluence, Google Docs—they're powerful, flexible, and already in your stack.

But here's the thing: flexibility is the enemy of decision preservation.

The General Documentation Trap

General-purpose tools are designed to handle any kind of information. That's their strength and their weakness.

When you try to document decisions in a wiki:

• Every record looks different
• There's no enforced structure
• Nobody knows where to find old decisions
• The "why" gets buried in meeting notes

You already store information. The problem is that six months later, nobody trusts or finds it.

What Makes Decision Documentation Different

A decision isn't a document. It's a structured record with specific fields:

That's it. No threads. No reactions. No bikeshedding.

This structure isn't limiting—it's liberating. It ensures every decision record contains the information you'll need later.

The Right Tool for the Right Job

Use those tools for what they're good at. But use a purpose-built tool for decisions.

Why Rigidity Works

Most teams worry that a rigid structure will slow them down. The opposite is true.

Verdict doesn't ask you to maintain documentation. It asks you to write once, at the moment of decision. No maintenance. No updates. No gardening.

If nothing changes, there's nothing to write.

This replaces future arguments—it doesn't add work.

The Kill Shot

If your team never reopens old decisions, you don't need a decision log.

But if you've ever sat in a meeting re-arguing something you thought was settled months ago? You need structure. You need authority. You need a single source of truth for why things were decided.

The rigidity is the point. It forces you to capture what matters, every time.