When working on complex or multi-part decisions, Jeff Bezos constantly asked us, “When is the last responsible moment that we can make this decision? Do we have to make all these decisions today? Are there some we could make later?”
He would ask this as a way of teaching the team a decision-making method that could be used to break down complex decisions into smaller, time-gated steps without slowing the project down.
And, by delaying as many decisions as possible, we were increasing the chance that added time might yield more useful information.
Jeff often said that if you wait until you have 100% of the information needed to make a decision, then you waited too long. Shoot for having about 80% of the information required.
However, the tradeoff is that waiting too long can create an unnecessary risk of missing opportunities or being overtaken by competition.
This is why Jeff pushed the team to define “the last responsible moment”—the latest point at which a decision could still be made without jeopardizing the product’s schedule or any competitive advantages.
Business leaders— What are examples where you applied or wish you had applied this principle?
