Steal this technique from Amazon for great decision making

The biggest challenges you face as a decision maker is, how to make right decisions every time! It doesn’t matter what level of management are you at. Every day, you have to make decisions, and then not only enjoy your right decisions, but regret deeply at times for the wrong decisions you have made.

During my tenure at Amazon, I have learnt a million things over 12 years that I am grateful for. Making the “Right Decision” is one of those golden nuggets I am going to share with you today.

Understanding Analysis Paralysis

As a leader, one of the key concerns you might face is how much time to spend in making a decision.

Analysis Paralysis is the idea where we over-analyze something to help us make a decision. We try the 5-whys principle, we dive even deeper, we always need more proof before making the decision.

I have seen a fair share of examples where it took forever for some people to finally come to a conclusion and make a decision.

But why do we do that?

Most of the times, the challenge doesn’t lie in the decision itself. It rather lies with “what if the decision is wrong”. This is why, the Analysis Paralysis happens — which leads to longer decision making time — which further leads to “bureaucracy” and “red-tape”, where every decision takes forever.

If you are a decision maker, one of the methodologies you can use is One-way vs. Two-way door… coming straight from the handbook of Jeff Bezos from Amazon.

One-way vs. Two-way Door

The idea in its essence is pretty straight-forward. There are two types of doors: Ones that only open to one side — these are called one-way doors. These are the most common ones of course.

However, there are other type of doors, which can be opened in both directions — these are called two-way doors.

What does it have to do with decision-making?

When you need to make a decision, try to first understand the impact of the decision or change of strategy.

Figure out what happens if this change doesn’t work out in your favor. Will you be…