The reconstruction tax
What it costs every time the organisation cannot remember why it decided.
08 Apr 2026 · 8 min read
The most expensive line item in any consequential decision is not the deal, the build, or the write-down. It is the cost of reconstructing why a decision was made — three quarters later, when the operator who owned it has rotated, when the slide deck has been reorganised twice, and when the sponsoring committee has half-changed seats.
Where the tax shows up
The reconstruction tax is paid in three places. First, in the days lost when conditions on a prior commitment trigger and nobody can find the original gating logic. Second, in the credibility hit when a board asks why a phase II is being released and the rationale has to be re-narrated from memory. Third, in the strategic drag of repeating debates that were settled — but never recorded.
What the tax pays for
Every reconstructed decision borrows time from the next decision. The committee meeting that should have started with "here is the new context" instead starts with "remind me what we decided last time." That cost compounds quietly.
The decision happens once. The reconstruction happens forever.
What lowers it
Two interventions help. The first is structural: every consequential decision needs a single artefact that holds the context, the rationale, the captured dissent, the conditions, and the review trigger. The second is procedural: that artefact has to be the official record — not a deck, not an email, not a folder.
Dictamen exists because we got tired of paying the tax.