Better team decision making

Indecisiveness is toxic. It bogs you down and makes your team run in circles, rehashing old discussions again and again. Not to mention the conflicts that arise between teammates when everyone assumes they are the decider. Or, even worse, when the decider doesn’t realize they own the decision – and thus, never make it.

Not only is clarifying everyone’s role an important decision making skill, you also need to be able to get the full context surrounding the decision. This means exploring the problem space, understanding your options and the trade-offs involved in each one, and make sure your decision aligns with your larger goals.

None of this needs to be painful. By adopting these four practices, you can build muscle around defining roles, taking input, and weighing options.

Top 4 plays for making decisions as a team

Understand what's most important, seek guidance, and assign roles for each decision you make.

DACI

Whose decision is it, anyway? Run this play to answer that question, as well as identify when the decision needs to be made, whose recommendations you should solicit, and who needs to be informed after the fact.

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Problem Framing

Before weighing options, invest an hour wrapping your head around the problem or opportunity. Bring in a group with diverse skills and experience levels. More perspectives = more robust problem definition.

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Trade-off Sliders

We make a million tiny decisions over the course of our projects. By understanding what to optimize for (e.g., scope vs. timing), we can set our entire project team up to make good decisions independently. Kiss analysis paralysis goodbye once and for all!

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telescope pointed up towards the stars in the dark blue sky

OKRs

Decisions don’t just affect you and your team. They can have an impact on your entire organization’s ability to meet its objectives. By using the OKRs goal-setting framework across your org, you can easily identify who has a stake in your decision and who can contribute recommendations.

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