Your team isn’t slow because they’re lazy. They’re slow because “yes” has no owner.
When nobody explicitly owns the final decision, teams default to permission-seeking, political triangulation, and meeting recursion (“let’s circle back after we get alignment”). The work still happens—just later, with more anxiety, and usually after the opportunity window closes.
This is fixable. Not with another “communication workshop,” but with decision architecture.
The Bottleneck You Can’t See Until You Name It
Here’s the scene: a smart team, a clear goal, a simple choice.
“Should we ship this version or wait for feature X?”
“Do we switch vendors?”
“Do we hire the generalist or the specialist?”
Everyone has an opinion. No one has authority. So the decision bounces:
A meeting is scheduled.
“We need more input.”
Someone asks the founder in Slack.
Founder delays because the question is fuzzy.
Team pauses because they don’t want to get blamed.
The decision is made accidentally by time, not leadership.
That’s committee drift: decisions “belong to everyone,” which means they belong to no one.
Your job as a founder isn’t to make every decision. It’s to make it obvious who can say yes—and what happens when they can’t.
The Decision Rights Map
You need a one-page map that answers three questions for every recurring decision: Who decides. Who advises. Who executes.
The DAE Roles:
Decider (D): One throat to choke, one hand on the lever. Final call.
Advisers (A): Give input before the call. They don’t block.
Executors (E): Build/ship/implement after the call.
Rule: Advisers can disagree. Executors can complain. The Decider still decides.
Your Decision Rights Map Template
For each decision, write:
Decision: (what exactly is being decided)
Decider: (name + role)
Advisers: (functions/people who must be consulted)
Executors: (who does the work)
Decision deadline: (date/time)
Decision principle: (what we optimize for: speed, quality, cost, risk)
Escalation: (when/how it escalates)
Important: If you can’t write the decision in one sentence, you don’t have a decision—you have a discussion topic.
The “RAPID Upgrade” for High-Stakes Decisions
Some decisions deserve more precision than DAE. That’s where RAPID-style thinking helps—especially when politics or cross-functional tension is high.
Use this lightweight version:
R — Recommend: Who brings the proposal
A — Advise: Who must be consulted
D — Decide: Who makes the final call
I — Implement: Who executes
P — Perform/Approve: Who “signs off” only if required (legal, finance, security)
Two founder-grade rules:
Only one “D.” If two people decide, you’ve built a conflict generator
“P” is rare. Approval layers are where speed goes to die. Use only for true risk constraints
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Escalation Paths: The Kill Switch for Endless Meetings
Most teams stall because escalation is emotional (“Do we bother the founder?”) instead of procedural (“This triggers escalation automatically.”)
Set escalation like a thermostat: automatic, predictable, boring.
Simple Escalation Rules (Pick One)
A) Time-based escalation
If the Decider doesn’t decide within 24 / 48 / 72 hours, it escalates to the next level.
B) Risk-based escalation
Escalate only if the decision crosses a defined threshold: Spend > $X, legal or security impact, customer-facing brand risk, or irreversible (one-way door) decisions.
C) Conflict-based escalation
If Advisers disagree after one input round, the Decider chooses—or escalates to a defined tie-breaker.
The Tie-Breaker Rule
Define one of these:
CEO breaks ties
Functional owner breaks ties
Metric breaks ties (e.g., “optimize for activation this quarter”)
If you don’t define the tie-breaker, the tie breaks you.
Where Momentum Actually Comes From
Speed isn’t a personality trait. It’s an organizational setting.
If you want to eliminate bottlenecks, politics, and endless meetings, don’t beg for alignment. Architect ownership. Put a name next to “yes.” Put a clock next to uncertainty. Put an escalation rule next to conflict.
Because in a growing company, the most expensive sentence isn’t “We made the wrong call.”
It’s: “We didn’t decide.”
