Leading decisions that stick

Narrative format that Amazon uses in their meetings is a great example for decision making

Pitfalls to watch out for:

• Overconfident about our knowledge
• Fail to consider alternatives
• Neglect uncertainty
• Oversimplify
• Confirmation bias
• Anchoring

3 Keys to make decisions stick:

• Involvement: have the right people involved, people in the room need to be the decision makers, not to have too many people involved

— — Handshake rule: 10 people is 45 handshakes; you don’t want to have a meeting where 10 people are seeing the info for the first time. Meeting with them ahead of time, do 2/3 people pre-meetings, enclose their objections in Pros and Cons (make people feel they are being heard, and feel better in supporting the decision); record meetings; if you are leading a conversation, make sure you have an advocate in the room, who will be able to support you.

— — It’s okay to stop the meeting where people are not prepared, and you don’t have enough data to support a decision; I don’t think we are ready to make a decision right now

• Robust discussions

— — Make sure everybody is comfortable making a decision during the meeting, otherwise, they will second-guess it later; have to have people confirm that they will follow through

— —Ask people does anyone see it differently? What are we missing here? I’d like to hear the other side of the story, play devil’s advocate (open the door for them), what problems could this cause

• Alignment

— —Make sure people say they agree/commit to the decision. Have the verbal affirmation is making it more likely for people to follow through

— —Agree on triggers and stick to it. If we agreed we will review the decision again in 1 month, then don’t panic too early

Recipe for good decision making process: Written narrative model

• Context: do not over do this section. Don’t jump ahead to make a decision until you have to (responsible moment to make a decision)
• Tenets/Goals & Priorities: get everybody on the same page early
• Viable Options: evidence, data, pros & cons (here are the things we considered, and here are the pros and cons)
• Come with recommendations, next steps
• Anticipate objections: be prepared, get someone to look at it before the meeting

Faster ways to make a decision: (suitable for designated informed captains — UX, PM)

• Executive or Expert
• Role-based authority
• Team votes (only if you are happy with all options)

Slower ways to make a decision: (higher buy-in)

• Consensus
• Customer data
• Customer vote
• A/B test

Which way to go depends on:

• How quickly do we need an answer
• Who must agree and do they support?
• Is there sufficient trust between groups
• How critical is the decision? What is the cost of it being wrong
• Is it a one way door? (irreversible decisions)

Remember that process matters 6x more than analysis