I’ve sat in meetings where a simple decision—like which pricing model to try or what default view to show—gets dragged out for days or even weeks. Everyone is waiting for just one more data point. One more round of feedback. They are waiting for certainty.
But here’s the reality: by the time you have definite information, it is almost always too late.
And most of the time, you didn’t need that certainty in the first place. Because most decisions are reversible.
Good Decision-Making Drives Outcomes
It’s easy to get caught up in execution. Shipping code. Closing deals. Improving metrics.
But behind every great execution loop is something quieter and more powerful: decision velocity.
The faster and clearer your team can make decisions, the more surface area you cover. The more you learn. The more options you unlock. Over time, the compounding effect of fast, reasonably good decisions far outweighs slow, perfect ones.
Execution speed comes from decision speed.
Reversible vs Irreversible
Not all decisions are equal. Some are high-stakes and hard to undo: launching a new product line, hiring a key exec, raising a round. These need time, debate, and deliberate judgment.
But most decisions in your company? They’re not like that.
- Which pricing page headline to test
- Whether to show onboarding tips on the left or right
- Whether to charge monthly or yearly by default
- What template to promote first in the gallery
All of these can be reversed with little cost. Yet we agonize over them like they’re irreversible.
The mindset shift is this: if a decision is easy to undo, make it fast.
Empower the Team
If only one person in the company can make a decision, everything slows down. You become the bottleneck.
But when your team understands the difference between reversible and irreversible decisions, they start moving with confidence. They stop asking for permission on small things. They stop looping in five people just to pick a button color.
Empower your team with two questions:
- What’s the downside if this is wrong?
- How quickly can we undo it?
If the answers are “minimal” and “fast,” the decision should already be made.
The Cost of Waiting
Every slow decision costs you. It delays learning. It reduces energy. It trains your team to default to indecision. You don’t need to be reckless. But you do need to be responsive.