One-Way and Two-Way Doors

From Jeff Bezos's 2015 letter to Amazon shareholders (published 2016).

Sorts a decision by whether it can be undone at reasonable cost, then gives reversible calls a fast, delegated process and irreversible ones a slow, senior one.

When to reach for it

Before sending a decision to a committee, or when a team is agonizing over a choice it could simply reverse, or rushing one it cannot.

How it runs

1. Name the decision.
2. Ask what reversing it would cost, and how fast it could be done.
3. Classify it as a one-way door or a two-way door.
4. Decide two-way doors quickly, close to the work, with a plan to reverse.
5. Take one-way doors slowly, with senior input and written reasoning.
6. Afterward, check whether the door was classified correctly.

Where it sits in SOLVE eX

• 5.3 Validating Impact and Execution
• 5.2 Selecting the Right Decision Tools

Go to the source

• 2015 Letter to Shareholders, Amazon.com, filed with the SEC as exhibit 99.1 to a Form 8-K, 2016