You don't need more time

This week I had a familiar conversation with a CTO. She was lamenting waiting too long with firing a recent hire. The signs were there in week one, but for multiple reasons they waited with making the decision.

Sounds familiar?

Here's the thing… waiting for perfect information is just fear dressed up as being responsible. And I get it. Making decisions when you're not 100% certain feels scary. But here's what I've learned after years of watching leaders succeed and fail: the ones who thrive are the ones who make decisions quickly and course-correct as they go.

Specifically, I’ve found three areas where leaders tend to wait for perfect information. And yes, this still includes me.

The Product Paralysis

Teams delay building features because they haven't talked to enough users yet. They need more research. More stakeholder meetings. More designer input. More, more, more.

But here's what they're really saying: "I'm afraid we'll build the wrong thing."

What if instead of spending months researching, you made a decision to run a tiny experiment?

Build the smallest possible version and see if anyone actually uses it. You'll learn more in two weeks of real usage than in two months of theoretical discussions. The beautiful thing about software is that we can change it. We can iterate. We can even kill features that don't work. But we can't iterate on ideas that only exist in meeting notes.

This one took me the longest to understand, because it seems counter intuitive until you start practicing making many tiny decisions. Once you do, though, you will never want to go back to the old way of spending months on research just to make a decision.

The People Problem

This one hits close to home because I've been guilty of it myself. We delay hiring because we want to find the perfect candidate. Our interview processes stretch on for weeks, sometimes months. Meanwhile, that amazing person you met in round one have already accepted another offer.

But what if you hired faster and figured out the last 10% fit through actual work? With a solid onboarding process and regular feedback, you'll know within weeks whether someone is right for the role. The work itself becomes the final step in the recruitment process.

On the flip side, we delay firing because we don't have a clear picture of what success looks like. I've told this story before, but I once waited six months too long to let someone go. Six months! I kept thinking I needed more data, more clarity. But deep down, I knew. My gut knew. The team knew. Everyone knew except the spreadsheet I was trying to fill with "objective evidence."

The cost of keeping the wrong person isn't just about their performance. It's about the message it sends to your high performers. It's about the energy drain on the entire team. When you know, you know. Trust that knowing.

The Process Trap

This might be the sneakiest fear of all. We create processes and then treat them like they're carved in stone. When things aren't working, we try to bend people to fit the process instead of adapting the process to fit the people.

I've watched teams struggle with processes that made sense when they were five people but are crushing them at fifteen. Yet nobody wants to be the one to say, "Hey, this isn't working anymore." Why? Because changing processes feels like admitting failure.

But processes aren't holy. They're tools that should evolve with your organization. Instead of defending the old way, what if you asked, "What needs to change for where we are now?"

A great way to make sure the process keeps updating is to include a review step in the onboarding process for new hires. Every new hire brings fresh perspective, so every new hire is an opportunity to update the process. Just ask them what in you process feels weird or nonsensical.

The Way Forward

Look, I'm not suggesting you should be reckless and never do any type of research or due diligence. I'm just suggesting that waiting for certainty is often more reckless than making a decision with 70% confidence. Because while you're waiting for that extra 30%, your competitors are already three iterations ahead.

The leaders I admire most have developed a different relationship with decisions. They see them not as permanent verdicts but as experiments.

They've replaced "What if I'm wrong?" with "What will I learn?"

They've stopped asking "Do I have enough information to make the perfect decision?" and started asking "Do I have enough to take the next step?"

So here's my challenge to you this week: identify one decision you've been putting off. Maybe it's that feature you've been researching for months. Maybe it's that difficult conversation with an underperforming team member. Maybe it's that process that everyone knows is broken but nobody wants to touch.

Make the decision. Not next month. Not after one more meeting. This week. Or better yet, today.

You don't need more time. You don't need more data. You just need to decide.

If you’re hesitant hit reply and tell me. Sometimes just saying it out loud is the first step to actually doing it.