When a bad decision is better than no decision

I moved to Johannesburg to start my career 20 years ago. In my first real job I reported to the MD of a small web development shop. His name was Clive Lewis. I’m forever grateful that he was not an Ass.

When I say “Ass”, I mean a “Buridan’s Ass” which is a donkey that is equally thirsty and hungry. It’s placed exactly midway between a pail of water and hay and dies because it can’t make a rational decision about which one to choose.

This donkey illustrates a form of decision paralysis. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying “analysis paralysis”. 

Clive was my first business mentor and I learned a lot from him. One of the things he drilled into me was that a wrong decision is often better than no decision.

Many decisions are reversible. Some bigger decisions can also be broken into smaller decisions that allow you to test the waters and change course based on what you learn along the way.

The problem with making no decision at all, is that there is often no way to learn what you need to learn without starting. And waiting to be 100% sure you’re decision is right means you never start.

I’ve seen IT projects that took 2 years to even start because those in charge were scared to make a call. This is a recipe for corporate starvation. A scaredy cat quickly turns into a Buridan’s Ass.