Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on Seattle 2.0, and imported to GeekWire as part of our acquisition of Seattle 2.0 and its archival content. For more background, see this post.

By Anthony Stevens

If you’re a startup founder, you should be good at making decisions.  If you aren’t, you’re going to have a rough time of it – because the better part of your first year or three will be spent making them.  You’re the boss, you’re on your own, and you have nobody to fall back on.  Harry Truman famously had a sign on his desk that said “The Buck Stops Here.”  Founders need to have a similar mentality.

So how do you go about making better decisions?

First of all, what makes a decision good or bad?  In the context of a startup, a good decision is one that:

Is Made Quickly.  Better a slightly bad decision made quickly than a perfect decision made too late.  Economists would call this a “satisficing” rather than “optimizing” behavior.

Keeps Options Open.  Very rarely do you want to have a “make or break” moment in your early-stage startup.  Better to make decisions that allow you to stay flexible, keep the feedback coming in, and allow you to shift course when necessary.

Has a Bias Towards Action.  Keep your decisions oriented toward action – doing something – and avoid decisions that keep your team in analysis mode.

So, in order to make quick, action-oriented decisions that keep your options open, what do you need to have in place?  Let’s drill down.

Keep Information Flowing.  The more information you have about the state of your business, the state of your customers’ businesses, the marketplace, and the forces that are acting on your startup, the better you’ll be able to assess, evaluate, and decide.  One counterpoint: keep noise to a minimum.  Apply filters to keep the information that’s put in front of you of high quality.

Seek Advice When Necessary.  Have a group of trusted advisors around that you can call on when you’re confronted with particularly challenging decisions.  These people may be friends, employees, directors, investors, customers, or even your next door neighbor.  The important thing is that you trust them and that they are available when you need them.  One caveat: don’t be that person who can’t make any decision without consulting your people.  You need to learn how to trust yourself as well.

Delegate Where Possible.  As a startup founder, reduce thrash and stress by delegating lower-priority decisions to employees where possible.

Have a Long-Term Plan.  Decisions take on a deeper meaning when evaluated against a one-, three-, or five-year plan.  Your plans will change, perhaps frequently, but it’s important to have a plan.  If you don’t have a plan, your decisions can cause you to veer unpredictably off-course – possibly only in retrospect.

Maintain a Nimble Organization.  The more nimble you are, the more alternatives you have when the decisions come at you fast and furious.  What does nimble mean for a startup?  Have flexible product strategies.  Keep your burn rate low. Avoid vendor lock-in where possible.  Make sure everyone can wear multiple hats.  Avoid key-person risk.  Etc. etc. etc.  I could write a whole blog post about nimbleness.

Finally, let’s shatter some myths about decision-making:

You Need More Information.  No, not always.  Sometimes a hint, a smell, a mere whiff of something is enough to get your pattern-recognition cylinders firing and allow you to make decisions even if you don’t have all the information.  By way of anecdote, I remember once reading the question: “When do you know it’s the right time to decide to fire someone?” and the answer that I loved was “The first time it occurs to you.”

Good Decisions Require Consensus.  Sometimes.  Other times, when your team is floundering and unable to agree, you need to step forward and make the decision.  The Buck Stops Here.

You Need to Decide Immediately.  Agile proponents maintain the concept of the Last Responsible Moment (LRM).  Sometimes the best decision is to consciously defer a decision until the LRM, at which point you decide – and move on.  Note, however, that this is a software concept, not a running-a-business concept, and I would personally recommend you keep your deferred decisions – “open loops” in GTD parlance – to an absolute minimum.

What decision-making stories of your own come  to mind as you read this?  What advice would you add – or what would you disagree with?  Let us know in the comments!

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