How to Make Faster Decisions as a Product Manager – Issue 7

4 Principles on how to make faster decisions and avoid being the bottle

Sep 14, 2022

“There are two sides to every issue: one side is right and the other is wrong, but the middle is always evil.” ― Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged

I asked a Software Engineering friend about the worst time in her career:

The 1.5 yrs I worked with an indecisive PM. His opinion fluctuated on a daily basis. We had 5-7 options of every design + vote/survey. We wasted months considering alternatives with no real value shipped. It was hell for me and the team.
― A software Engineering friend

Have you seen this story before?

A product manager that leaves their team without a sense of direction.

The problem? There's no school for this.

Here are 4 principles I use to make decisions on the spot.

#1 Avoid “one-size-fits-all” decision-making 🕵️‍♂️

There are two classes of decisions ↓

Type 1: Decisions that you can't reverse. These must be made methodically, carefully, and slowly.
Type 2: These are reversible decisions. These can be made fast.

The trap that most companies fall in:

As a company grows, there is a tendency to treat all decisions as Type 1 decisions resulting in a slow reactive environment 🐢.
The opposite is even worse, treating big decisions as lightweight Type 2 decisions. The company will go extinct ⚰️.

Identify the decision type.

#2 Spend < 10 minutes discussing Type 2 Decisions ⏰

I have seen discussions that went on for weeks on whether we should have 16px icon vs an 18px icon 🤦

You can do this by setting the stage for the team 🏟️

Explain:

The 10 min deadline
What will happen if we don't reach an agreement
It's an unimportant decision and the low impact it has on our customers

#3 Get Comfortable Taking Wrong Decisions 🤷‍♂️

For Type 2 decisions, being wrong is better than failure to make a decision.

Be wrong as fast as you can. Take a random decision and move forward.

Ed Catmull the Author of Creativity Inc explains how they move fast when creating Pixar movies.

It’s about making quick reversible decisions. He says that it’s better to take a random decision and move forward.

#4 Teach your Team the Different Types of Decisions 👩‍🏫

When your team understands that in many cases it's ok to make a suboptimal Type 2 decision.

You will move so much faster because it's now a part of the team culture.

Interesting Reads

Hope it helps ✌️

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