Decision-Making & Problem Solving
Core Goal: Align on how decisions are made and how we resolve technical disagreements to move the mission forward without delay.
Decision Style
- Are you Analytical, Intuitive, or Collaborative?
- I am primarily Analytical, but I use my past experience (gut feeling) to guide my initial direction and as a final “sanity check.” I prize data-driven decision-making over pure intuition.
- How much “detail” do you want to see before making a decision?
- I expect a high-signal summary of the “What” and the “Why.” However, you should have the supporting data and the “How” ready for a deep dive if I need to audit the reasoning or risk assessment.
- What decisions do you want to own, and which do you want to delegate?
- I must own all one-way doors (irreversible decisions) and any changes to promises we have made to stakeholders or other teams.
- For everything else: “No surprises, no heroes.” If you are highly confident and believe we should move without waiting, I encourage you to take risks you feel are worth taking—just ensure I am kept in the loop. I value calculated action over perfect consensus, provided there is accountability.
Technical & Professional Disagreements
- What is your “Tie-breaker” protocol when a team is at a stalemate?
- I evaluate stalemates against several key (unordered) signals:
- Passion & Conviction: If a team member has a deep conviction I don’t fully understand yet, I give that credit—passion often signals a nuance I might be missing.
- Long-term Consequences: If all else is equal, I prefer the path with the lowest long-term technical debt.
- Modularity: I prefer many small pieces over a few large ones; it makes it easier to measure progress and demonstrate value incrementally.
- Ease of Onboarding: We must build with future teammates in mind.
- I evaluate stalemates against several key (unordered) signals:
- Do you prefer to “Whiteboard it out” or “Write an ADR/Doc”?
- AI-Ready Documentation: I feel strongly that we need to optimize our documentation for AI tooling. For now, that means Markdown files in the project repo discussed at the PR stage. This ensures our “Why” is durable and machine-readable.
- What is the fastest way to change your mind?
- To be clear: changing my mind is rarely necessary. I am happy to “disagree and commit” rather than waste time on a convincing-match. The quickest way to move forward with me is to clarify what needs to be discussed to get an actionable plan. Focus on the mission, not the consensus.