Findings and decisions

A conversation is where the thinking happens. What is worth keeping from it is a finding (a key point) or a decision. Findings are collected beside the chat, and the ones you accept go into a Brain, where the whole team can find them later.

The Findings section

Open the right panel of a chat and expand Findings.

• Key points are picked out of the conversation for you as it goes. An empty list says so: chat a bit, and key points are extracted automatically.
• + Finding adds one yourself. Type the point, choose Key Point or Decision, and press Add.
• The chips All, Findings and Decisions filter the list.

Each finding has:

• Edit: correct the wording.
• Accept: send it to the Brain named at the top of the section.
• Reject: set it aside.
• Undo: take back an accept or a reject.
• More actions: Mark as decision or Mark as finding.

Add All accepts everything in the list, and Clear All rejects it. Both ask you to confirm first. The foot of the section counts what has been accepted and rejected. Accepted and rejected findings keep their numbers, and Undo puts one back to pending.

Accepting needs a Brain you are allowed to write to. If there is none, the accept buttons are disabled.

During an interview the section can be hidden until the interview ends, so the person being interviewed is not distracted. Findings are still recorded.

Findings that came from an agent

A finding taken from an agent's message is marked with its source and the line "A person must approve this before it goes into a Brain."

• Read it, correct it if needed, then accept it. That is the approval.
• If the finding's text changed after you opened it, accepting is refused with "This finding changed. Read it again, then accept it."
• A finding that a person approved but that has no Brain yet reads "Approved by a person. It is not in a Brain yet: accept it into one to add it."

This keeps anything an agent wrote from becoming shared knowledge until a person has read it.

Resolving a conversation

When a conversation has done its job, resolve it with a summary.

Press ✓ Resolve chat in the chat header. On a phone, open Session actions and choose Resolve chat. Review findings in the same sheet opens the Findings list first.

The dialog asks for:

• Resolution summary: what the conversation concluded.
• Details: the decision points and the reasons.
• Destinations: send the summary to the parent chat (for a SideChat), and save it to one or more Brains.

Then press Resolve & close. The chat becomes read-only and shows who closed it. Members who can post in it can Reopen it.

If the conversation has a checklist that controls completion, the button stays disabled while required items are open, and says which. See Checklists.

Recording a decision

In the same dialog, Outcome turns the close into a decision. Leave it on "No outcome (an ordinary close)" for a normal close, or choose one:

• Decided: the group decided for it.
• Decided not to: the group decided against it.
• Parked: set aside for later.

Your workspace can use its own outcome names.

With an outcome chosen, fill in:

• Reasons (required): why.
• Evidence: links to what supports it. Press Add evidence for each.
• Owner (optional): who carries it forward.
• Due (optional): by when.

The button then reads Record decision & close, or Save decision to Brain & close when a Brain is chosen.

Decision records in a Brain

A decision saved to a Brain becomes a Decision record. Open the Brain from the left sidebar and go to Records.

• When the Brain has decisions, a Decisions filter appears: All, For, Against and Parked, each with a count.
• Open a record to see its Decision record section: the outcome, Decided by, the Reasons and the Evidence you are allowed to open.

Verified records and restricted sources

• Verified: a Brain record can carry "Verified by" a person and a review date, so you know someone has checked it.
• Source restricted: you can read a record even when it came from an interview, chat or checklist you cannot open. The record then shows "Source restricted" in place of a link, with no source title. Ask a Facilitator or Admin if you need the full context.

For how facilitators steer findings and manage what reaches a Brain, see Resolutions & findings.