How to Make Responsible Decisions
Jimmie Butler
Trusted Advisor to Government Managers || Strategy - Program & Product Management - Organizational Change - Performance Management || Click ?? to never miss my posts!
In the previous episode, you learned about decision dilemmas and the concept of the last responsible moment. It's like the Goldilocks principle - some decisions are too early, some too late, but some are just right.
In this episode, we'll explore some tips to help you make decisions at just the right time - the last responsible moment.?
Assessing the Costs
So, the last responsible moment is the best time to make a decision. That’s great, but how do you know when that is? How do you make responsible decisions? By assessing the cost of deferring versus the cost of deciding.
Assess the Cost of Deferring
First, you have to determine the cost of deferring the decision. What happens if you do not make this decision right now?
Not every decision needs to be made – at least not right now. As long as the cost of deferring is low, you can afford to wait. But wait on what? What you are waiting for is more information from which to inform the decision. This could come from:
User Feedback
You may feel like you know what the users want and need and what they would like or dislike, but do you really know for sure? Can you back up those assumptions with any data? Often times, it is better to leave something out if you are unsure and allow user feedback to tell you if it is needed. Many times, what you end up with in this instance is different than what you would have guessed.
Organizational Policies
Let’s face it, organizational policies and mandates can sideswipe your best intentions. These are constraints you need to work within, so you may want to wait and see how certain organizational changes play out before making certain decisions.
External Factors
Government regulations, markets, weather, social movements, and more are external factors that can influence how your decisions work out, or not. If something is currently brewing that may impact your business or product, wait as long as you can to see how it plays out.
Technical Discovery
Anytime your team produces something new, which often happens in product development, it always goes into development with some unknowns. These unknowns become discoveries throughout the project. Is such and such a feature feasible? Can it be done, or can it be done efficiently? Is this the right way to solve this particular problem?
For example, did you know that the original iPhone did not have copy/paste functionality? It was not until the iPhone 3 that copy/paste capability was available. There were some technical challenges to solve before they could adequately provide the capability. They chose to defer that decision pending more discovery.
Assess the Cost of Deciding
If the cost of deferring is rising, then you may be closer to needing to make the decision. The next thing you will need to consider is what is the cost of deciding right now?
Do you foresee any new information that could come along and change this decision in the near term – before you can see value from it? Is there a risk that you'll spend time on something that won't come to fruition?
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You can attempt to anticipate, but confidence is built upon the information you have in the moment. You will rarely have all the answers up front. You won’t likely figure it all out in planning. There will often be unknowns and some risks.
You can get caught up in analysis paralysis and wait too long. Sometimes you need to act on what you know and figure it out, especially if the risk of being wrong is low. This is why I sometimes say anything worth doing is worth doing poorly. But you must assess the negative impacts of proceeding. That threshold will be unique to you and your context.
You cannot avoid sometimes doing the wrong thing. Many will argue that's what Agile affords you - the ability to find out -?because all you really work with are assumptions that need to be validated. True, but you can sometimes reduce your risk of being wrong by waiting a little longer — to learn and to better know what you’re doing.
If you make this decision or act on this thing now, what are the potential risks and costs of acting now versus waiting?
When to Make the Decision?
This is the million dollar question, isn't it? When exactly is the last responsible moment?
"Most decisions should probably be made with somewhere around 70% of the information you wish you had." - Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon
Bezos's quote is an obvious generalization to suggest that you don't need 100% but you need more than just a hunch. You'll never have 100% certainty. Waiting for it will cause you to miss the opportunity altogether. Work to reduce your largest risks and move forward, learn, and adjust.
Key Takeaways
There's no magic formula for knowing where that perfect intersection sits for the last responsible moment. But there are obvious decision-making mistakes you can avoid and tactics you can employ to help you reduce the risks of deferring and deciding.
Here are a few key takeaways:
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Jimmie is a Program Director and Strategic Consulting Practice Lead with IntelliBridge helping rebuild trust in government through Product-Led strategy.
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