How to make product decisions easier
A simple guideline for avoiding decision fatigue
We have all been there. We exhaust ourselves by revisiting the same calls in different forms, hoping more input will make the decision safer. Unfortunately, the margin there is so small that it is not worth the time you are losing, especially when you are delivering in a fast moving market like tech.
Here are some actions to get out of common decision fatigue you are going to fall into.
If you can’t decide between UI designs
If the difference is purely cosmetic, colors, spacing, visual style, stop.
This is a low impact decision that looks more important than it is.
Don’t debate taste. Don’t try to prove one is “better”.
Pick whatever:
helps you launch sooner
the majority of the team already prefers
aligns with your existing design system
If it doesn’t change usability or behavior, it doesn’t deserve more time. Ship it and move on.
If you can’t decide between two UX experiences
Stop discussing it in a meeting for a minute.
Build very simple versions of both. Not polished. Just enough to try. Not to launch yet, but to:
use them yourself
ask a few colleagues to try them
watch where they hesitate, get confused, or ask questions
That first hand observation will tell you more in 15 minutes than hours of discussion.
Once one option feels better in practice, start from there and iterate. You don’t need the perfect answer yet, just the one that works better in reality.
If you can’t decide because “we need more data”
Someone asks for more research, more numbers, more validation. Fair. But they can’t say what result would change the decision.
Shortcut, ask one question:
“What result would make us choose the other option?”
If no one can answer, you already have enough data. Decide and move.
If you can’t decide because everyone has a reasonable opinion
Long discussions where everyone is kind of right.
Pick a single decision owner and time box it.
“We’ll discuss for 20 minutes. Then X decides.” Maybe it is you.
Not consensus. Not voting. One person, one call.
This removes fatigue by design.
If you can’t decide because the decision feels irreversible
Let’s be honest, often we just don’t want to be the person who made the wrong call. But what is “wrong”?
Explicitly classify the decision you need to make:
reversible in a day/week
reversible after launch
hard or impossible to reverse
Unless it is in the last category, speed is more important than making the perfect call. Go for it.
If it is in the last category, revisit the decision. It might be too comprehensive. Try breaking it down into smaller decisions until the pieces feel reversible.
If you can’t decide because of edge cases
Force the decision through one core user journey.
“Does this edge case block the primary journey?”
If not, it doesn’t get to delay the decision. It is noise. Visit it later.
If you can’t decide because scope keeps expanding
Write down what this decision is not allowed to include. Simple.
Make it explicit. This decision does not include:
new personas
monetization
mobile, tablet, or other platforms
localization
…
If it’s not allowed in, it can’t block the decision.
Decision fatigue usually means the decision is still abstract.
If you make decisions smaller, reversible, and concrete, they stop feeling heavy.
You don’t need better arguments. You need fewer imaginary problems and more real feedback.