Explicit Decision Criteria: The Criteria That Make a Difficult Recommendation Defensible

A recommendation can sound confident and still be built on invisible rules. One stakeholder says the best option is the one with the lowest implementation burden. Another quietly prioritizes adaptability. A third cares most about adoption, but nobody has defined what “adoption” means or what evidence would prove it. By the time the consultant presents a recommendation, the room is not debating the options. It is debating several private definitions of success. That is the real value of explicit…