The Cost of Indecision
I share a thought on one of the most expensive mistakes I've experienced
Organizational direction is an important thing to have. Even better is having momentum. But what happens when that momentum is stalled, and direction is questioned?
It’s healthy to evaluate where you’re at and validate measures of success at key stages. Sometimes it’s even good to hit the pause button and assess. But a big mistake is not making a decision.
The cost of indecision manifests as expenses in 4 ways that I’ve witnessed: Time, Money, Energy, and Trust.
Time you can’t get back
Trust you can, but it takes a long time and might never come back completely
Money chasing when you’re behind is bad business at best and gambling at worst
Energy can be captured and redirected, but it requires skill to do so
I mentioned pausing earlier. A pause is suitable when it’s well understood that it can only be for a limited amount of time, and expectations are set that at the end of that pause a decision will be made.
If the decision causes you to reverse direction and require new momentum, it better be a very good reason to do so. I’ve experienced this before where a profound switch happened in my organization, and it absolutely sucked the wind out of everyone involved. That can be acceptable—but it needs to be for a good, substantiated reason.
Pausing isn’t indecision, but I’ll give you some examples of what is.
Frequently I see indecision that looks like half-heartedness. “We’re going to Cloud,” but not investing in training. Not trying to modernize. Not building on the Cloud with the business in mind. In essence: Not giving a full effort.
This is one of the most common forms of indecision. It allows organizations to sink all 4 of the things above right below the pain point. This can go on for years until suddenly it becomes severe, and mediocre effort manifests as mediocre results.
Avoiding it requires having a deliberate strategy and enforcing standards diligently. This requires well-equipped and empowered leaders at all levels who can understand and communicate that strategy and then work to support it.
Another costly form of indecision I’ve experienced is ignoring a decision.
I see it with organizations and leaders who are in a pinch. Maybe they’re short on time and trying to stay firmly within budget, but seeing issues arise early on and not saying anything. Often, they’ll see the bad results train coming a ways off and don’t get off the tracks. They won’t make a decision to say something because they’d rather not risk it.
While the above might sound like being decisive, I don’t think it is. Doing the wrong thing knowing you’re doing the wrong thing is still being indecisive. You’ve been presented with a decision that clearly goes in one direction, and you’re ignoring it.
Ignoring a decision that needs to be made is very expensive. I know because a long time ago I was a struggling CS student that needed to make a decision about my major and waited until it was almost too late to do something. It cost me Time, Energy, and Trust in myself.
I saw the writing on the wall and kept going because I was stubborn and didn’t want to disappoint my family and friends. Fortunately, I had a math teacher who had the candor to tell me that he thought it would be better for me to change my major because my skillset would be better aligned for IT problems than CS problems. I did that, found it a much better fit, and saved my grades and everything else.
Long story short: if you know things are going South, do something about it.
The last form of indecision I see commonly is analysis paralysis.
I think anyone who has worked in solutions for any period of time can immediately name a client who spent months/years making what was objectively an easy decision. It usually comes from good intent (wanting to avoid making a costly mistake or pick the right time to do something) but tends to cost more than it’s worth.
It’s a lot like New Years’ goals. You can start them whenever you want. Waiting until the 1st of January is completely arbitrary. The person who starts their New Years goal in June will end up with a 6-month lead time!
Analysis paralysis is one of the easiest to overcome by enforcing timelines and due dates. It’s hard to mess it up when the clock is ticking on a decision.
Some decision is better than no decision, even if it’s saying no prematurely. As long as organizations are open to changing evidence and reviewing periodically, there’s nothing wrong with saying “No” and focusing attention on other things. It’s a lot worse to continue analyzing and burning up Time and Energy while nothing productive gets done from it.
I’ve done this a few times now with clients exploring Landing Zones where I push them to “No” sooner to help them avoid indecision internally.
Are they great to have? Yes, absolutely. I’d recommend them for every organization growing meaningfully on public Cloud. But if there’s a primitive use case for Cloud like storing backups, often a full-fledged Landing Zone is overkill, especially when budgets are tight, and the know-how just isn’t there yet to commit.
In effect this kills a few birds with one stone: it avoids half-heartedness, saves Time, and makes a firm decision. That’s a win in my book.
No matter how you cut it, avoiding indecision saves Time, Money, Energy, and maintains Trust. If you find yourself or your organization falling into one the above scenarios of half-heartedness, ignoring a decision, or overanalyzing, there’s nothing wrong with calling it out and doing something about it. Just be tactful!