The Hidden Pattern Behind Circular Product Debates - Follow Up Story
What's missing when smart teams can't make a decision
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What happened after writing a recent Product Management IRL article? These insights are exclusive to premium subscribers of Product Management IRL.
This week’s backstory is about handling circular debates:
What Prompted This Article?
I was on a decision-making high after unburdening my worries and documenting decisions. I published the article on decision logs and some readers pointed out that many decisions are too complex for a decision log.
My first thought: Oh, then it is too early to decide. I almost responded to say it’s just too early.
But then I remembered my own case where a decision log wouldn’t work. I responded to the readers that I’d tackle the complex decision situation.
I’ve been in a long-standing circular debate situation with a related team in my organization.
After researching other methods to make decisions, I discovered complex decisions have layers. Below are the typical layers that apply to product management:
I tried the decision layers on a pretty typical scenario: limited engineering for a future risk. Breaking the problem into layers makes progress.
I was looking forward to trying decision layers on my own complex situation.
