How To Make Big Decisions Quickly

What do I do all day ? I get this question asked of me from time to time and it’s a fair one: as a CTO, what exactly do I do all day? The fact is my daily routine has changed dramatically over the years. While I still spend a lot of hands-on time immersed in technology, our code, architecture and checking in on development milestones, I would characterize a large portion of my time is now spent doing two things: growing a talent base and helping my team make big decisions.
In a future post, I will talk about the process and techniques I use to build technical and managerial talent. But today I want to spend a few minutes describing the steps I use to make decisions under uncertainty.
I’ve found that in my role if an issue finds its way to my inbox, it means it’s not a problem that’s easy to solve. These decisions span the gamut – from the way we handle over a petabyte of gameplay data, to the topology of our data centers, to the development platform for the company, to the way we do final go/no go before releasing our products into live operations. Every decision I’m faced with directly impacts our consumer experience, impacts our P&L materially and impacts our employees and company over many years to come. These are generally high impact to the business and involve a variety of strong diverse points of view.
There are five things I try to do every time I am confronted with this situation that help me evaluate the scenario and make a decision effectively:
1) Get to the heart of the matter
Many times I find that perspectives around a big decision are both passionate and accurate but reflect only a particular (sometimes narrow) view of the problem. The first step for any major decision is based on critically and objectively dissecting its different elements to get to the bottom of the issue. A technique I use and encourage is called precision questioning(PQ). It is a structured method to quickly get to the underlying assumptions, sources of data, measures and cause-effect relationships to separate out causation variables from associations. PQ was developed by Dennis Matthies, a long-time Stanford professor. It is a good framework that enables teams to create a shared vocabulary and consistent way to develop critical thinking skills. For me personally, without working on each and every project day to day, using precision questioning helps me understand all aspects of the issue at hand and make an informed decision.

2) Encourage dissenting points of view
Everybody has a set of experiences that inform their decision making. It’s the muscle memory they rely on when confronted with a big choice. I find this method dangerous because you can risk only listening to those arguments that support your predisposed points of view whereas you need diverse perspectives to make the best decision. I always try and seek out those that have a different perspective, listen seriously to the counter points of view and ensure every voice is heard. When people are reticent or shy to express an unpopular opinion, giving them a voice and an environment to disagree is incredibly important.

3) Foster boldness
A key element of good decision making is timeliness. Paralysis of analysis can render a great decision useless if it is made too late. A deep and accurate understanding of all aspects of an issue is important, but seeking perfection is not practical. One doesn’t need to be 100% sure of an answer before making a decision. In fact, I almost never will be – it would require entirely too much time to come to a conclusion where you are that certain. It’s about making a decision when you have sufficiently evaluated all the factors so the team can move forward and I’m not serving as a bottleneck.

4) Ensure the discussion is not personal
Getting to the heart of an issue in a rapid manner especially with techniques like PQ can be quite intense. Make this a natural part of your organization’s DNA to ensure there is respect and civility in all discussions. It takes time but once set, it pays large dividends and everyone is more likely to participate and share opinions the next time.

5) Provide clarity in the decision
Often times a decision is made but not well communicated and therefore not well understood. Once a decision is made, it is important for everyone involved to understand the “what” and “why” of the decision. Transparency builds the foundation for support. It provides predictability in the way an organization decides and picks between options. In addition, don’t forget that every decision has an inverse. It is equally critical to spell out clearly what you will not be doing.


You’ll never be right in every decision you make. But being bold, being thoughtful and clearly understanding all factors are key. When you've gone through his process and based your decisions on research and facts, it is also easier to modify direction if the underlying factors change substantially. I always “reserve the right to wake up smarter every morning” - meaning I have a framework to track the decision logic over time and course correct if needed. I have found that using this five-step process to make decisions is the best way to foster an environment where we can make big bold bets and smart people thrive.


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