Beyond the Roadmap
Musings about product, tech, innovation, and strategy
Moving Fast and Slow:
A Smarter Framework for Decision-Making
In a recent article, Building Tomorrow Without Breaking Today, I explored disruptive innovation and the responsibility leaders have to navigate it thoughtfully. Disruption, by its very nature, challenges the status quo, but it also comes with significant risks. The question many product leaders grapple with is: how do we innovate quickly without being reckless? In working with clients I see many struggle with the tension between moving forward rapidly on a new technology versus exercising a more careful approach.
Startup founders and executives constantly face a dilemma: How do we move fast enough to stay ahead but slow enough to avoid costly mistakes?
Speed is often touted as a startup’s greatest advantage, but reckless decision-making can lead to irreversible missteps. On the other hand, moving too cautiously can cause missed opportunities and stagnation.
So, how do you decide when to push forward quickly and when to slow down?
One practical tool that I’ve found invaluable is Amazon’s "One-Way vs. Two-Way Doors" framework. This approach helps teams evaluate decisions, ensuring they balance agility with caution based on the nature of the decision. The framework offers a practical, repeatable way to align decision-making speed with the stakes involved.
Adding a second dimension that includes the level of impact of a decision makes the framework even more useful, particularly for determining when to move fast or slow on a particular decision point.
Let’s explore how this enhanced framework works, how it applies to innovation, how it can help startup leaders make better strategic choices, and why it’s a game-changer for product leaders seeking to move both fast and slow.
The One-Way vs. Two-Way Door Framework
Amazon’s former CEO Jeff Bezos popularized this decision-making model to help teams move quickly while managing risk. It classifies decisions into two categories:
Two-Way Doors (Reversible Decisions): These choices can be easily undone. If things don’t work out, you can roll back, pivot, or adjust course. Move fast here.
One-Way Doors (Irreversible Decisions): These are high-stakes choices that, once made, are difficult or impossible to reverse. If you get them wrong, the consequences can be severe. Take your time here.
To make this framework even more actionable, it helps to add a second dimension: impact. Some decisions, whether reversible or irreversible, are low-stakes, while others have major business implications.
When you plot impact (low vs. high) against reversibility (reversible vs. irreversible), you get a 2x2 decision-making matrix:
The Enhanced Two-Dimensional Decision-Making Matrix
Let’s break down each quadrant:
🟢 Low Impact + Reversible (Move Fast)
Decisions in this category are low stakes and easily reversible, meaning they should be made quickly with minimal debate. Examples include:
Running an A/B test on pricing or messaging.
Tweaking UI elements or onboarding flows.
Testing an experimental growth channel.
The key here is to avoid over-analysis. These decisions don’t require endless meetings. Just launch, learn, and iterate.
🟡 Low Impact + Irreversible (Still Move Fast)
Even if a decision is irreversible, the stakes are low. While you can’t easily undo the choice, the consequences aren’t significant enough to warrant slow decision-making. Examples include:
Choosing an internal project management tool.
Minor branding updates.
Adjusting an employee benefit that isn’t critical to retention.
Since the risk is minimal, founders and teams should make these decisions quickly and move forward.
🟠 High Impact + Reversible (Move Thoughtfully, but Don’t Stall)
This is where many startups struggle. These decisions matter, but they aren’t permanent. You have room to experiment and adjust. Examples include:
Introducing a new product feature with an opt-in.
Adjusting pricing strategy with the ability to revert if needed.
Running a large-scale marketing campaign that can be paused if underperforming.
The mistake many founders make here is overthinking these decisions, treating them as if they are one-way doors. Yes, these choices are important, but the ability to reverse course means you don’t need perfect certainty. Gather enough data to make an informed choice, but don’t let fear of failure stall progress.
🔴 High Impact + Irreversible (Take It Slow)
These are the big bets. If you get them wrong, it could significantly impact your company’s trajectory. These are the decisions where speed should take a backseat to rigorous analysis and alignment. Examples include:
Pivoting your product or business model.
Entering a new international market.
Acquiring a company or making a major financial investment.
Overhauling core technology architecture.
Because these decisions have lasting consequences, they demand deep research, stakeholder alignment, and scenario planning. While moving fast is often seen as a virtue in startups, this is where patience is essential.
Why This Framework Matters for Startup Leaders
Many startup founders and executives struggle with decision-making because they either:
Move too slowly on reversible decisions, missing out on opportunities.
Move too fast on irreversible decisions, leading to costly mistakes.
By Applying This Framework, You:
Prioritize Speed Where It Matters: Identify areas where quick action is beneficial.
Reduce Risk on High-Stakes Decisions: Ensure careful deliberation on choices that could permanently impact the business.
Empower Teams to Move Faster: Instead of bottlenecking decisions at the executive level, give teams autonomy where appropriate.
Build a Culture of Strategic Speed
A key advantage of startups is agility. But agility doesn’t just mean moving fast—it means moving fast strategically. Here’s how to implement this framework in your company culture:
Train Your Team to Use This Thinking
Make the One-Way vs. Two-Way Door framework part of your company’s decision-making process. When reviewing decisions, ask:
“Is this reversible or irreversible?”
“Is this high impact or low impact?”
Encourage teams to move quickly in low-risk quadrants without waiting for leadership approval.
Decentralize Low-Risk Decision-Making
If a decision is low-impact + reversible, empower teams to act without layers of approval. This prevents bottlenecks and speeds up execution.
Set Guardrails for High-Stakes Decisions
For high-impact + irreversible decisions, establish clear processes for due diligence. This could include requiring:
Data-driven analysis.
Cross-functional input.
A “pre-mortem” to consider failure scenarios.
Avoid ‘Paralysis by Analysis’
For high-impact + reversible decisions, don’t let the fear of making the wrong choice stall progress. Ensure decisions are made based on reasonable, not perfect, certainty.
Final Thoughts: Move Fast Where You Can, Slow Where You Must
Startups win by making better decisions, not just faster ones.
The best founders and executives don’t rush high-stakes decisions, but they also don’t let bureaucracy slow them down on the things that don’t matter.
By applying a multi-dimensional One-Way vs. Two-Way Door framework, that includes the impact of decisions you can better:
Innovate faster in low-risk areas.
Avoid costly mistakes with irreversible decisions.
Build a culture of smart, empowered decision-making.
Are you navigating high-stakes product or strategy decisions?
Let’s talk about how to bring clarity and confidence to your decision-making process.