What is high-velocity decision making?

High-velocity decision making is a decision-making process that emphasizes speed and agility, often used in fast-paced, dynamic environments like startups and technology companies. The goal is to make decisions quickly and efficiently, in order to maintain the pace of execution. High-velocity decision making allows organizations to respond quickly to changes in their environment, identify and capitalize on new opportunities, and stay ahead of the competition. It also prevents companies from overinvesting in decisions that are easily reversible, or inconsequential.

How do you make decisions faster?

To make fast decisions you should: * Be clear on who has the authority to make the decision * Set a deadline by which the decision should be made * Think through the decision from your users’, or boss’s perspective * Listen and address conflicting views, so they don’t come back to bite you * Use high level principles to guide your decisions (e.g. privacy first) * Be willing to disagree and commit, rather than insist on consensus * Look to act and adapt, rather than needing to be perfect first time round

What does fast decision making mean in startups?

Fast decision making in startups means making decisions quickly and efficiently, often with limited information or resources, in order to capitalize on opportunities, respond to market changes, and stay ahead of competitors. Often this means taking a decision when you only have 70-80% of the information you might ideally want, as collecting the remaining 20-30% of information can take a significant amount of time. Most decisions deserve less than 10 minutes discussion. Taking these decisions quickly leaves you more time for the few decisions that are important and irreversible, and require significant research, thought and deliberation before taking.

What is a type 1 or one way door decision example?

A type 1 decision is one that cannot easily be reversed. If you go through this door and don’t like what’s on the other side, it’s impossible or very difficult to go back. Some examples would be: * Choosing or moving to a new technology stack * Hiring or firing a critical employee (perhaps someone on the leadership team) * Changing business model (e.g. moving from one off payments to a subscription) * Raising a new round of finance, or taking on new investors

What is a type 2 or two way door decision example?

A type 2 decision is one that can easily be reversed. If you go through this door and don’t like what’s on the other side, it’s easy to go back to where you started. Some examples would be: * Changing the copy or color of UI elements * AB testing a new feature * The cadence or format of standing meetings * The messaging, images and channels in marketing campaigns

What is the advantage of fast decision making?

Fast decision making means you aren’t over investing in decisions that are unimportant or reversible. The result is that you have more time to invest in high value activities, get more done, and ship improvements faster and more regularly. Overall, this allows companies to be more innovative, adaptive and dynamic, and ultimate results in better business performance.

How to achieve High Velocity Decision Making

Making good decisions is a core skill for any product manager. Whether you are deciding which problems to solve, prioritizing features in the backlog, or hiring the best colleagues, the quality of your decisions goes a long way to defining how effective you will be.

It’s not enough just to make good decisions though - you have to make good decisions quickly. When you make high quality decisions at a high velocity, the result is a more responsive, nimble organization that spends more time executing on high value activities, and less time debating low value issues. Organizations which have mastered the art of high velocity decision making are able to maximize their organizational effectiveness overall, giving them a competitive advantage.

"A good plan violently executed now is better than a perfect plan next week."

- General George Patton

High Velocity Decision Making: Using types of decisions

The blueprint for this type of thinking is Amazon, who first highlighted the competitive and organizational advantage of embedding high velocity decision making as a company cultural advantage. Jeff Bezos famously defined two types of decisions in his 2016 letter to shareholders:

Type 1 Decisions - “One-Way Doors”

Almost impossible to reverse. You can’t go back to way things were
Rare
Must be made methodically, carefully, slowly, with great deliberation and consultation
Aim to get right, make it work
E.g. Sunsetting product, brand redesign, pricing changes

Type 2 Decisions - “Two-Way Doors”

Easily reversible. You don’t have to live with consequences for long
Common
Should be made quickly by small groups or individuals with good judgment
Aim to get right, but act fast and course correct over time
E.g. most product launches, copy changes, changing cadence or format of a meeting

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How to achieve High Velocity Decision Making

High Velocity Decision Making: Using types of decisions

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