?<img src="http://smartestplace.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/IMG_0202.jpg" alt=""><p class="H3" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px;"><span style="line-height: 28px;">?</span>Having been a voracious reader of business books since I was 15, it is rare these days that I come across business ideas that are truly novel. But today when reading <a href="http://www.steveblank.com">Steve Blank's blog</a>, he suggested something new that is both practical and universally applicable to all business decisions.</p><p class="H3" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px;"><font color="#2d2d2d">Here is an excerpt:</font></p><blockquote><font color="#2d2d2d"><span style="line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">“A good plan violently executed now<br>is better&nbsp;than a perfect plan next week.”<br></span></font><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;"><i>- General George Patton</i></span><font color="#2d2d2d"><span style="line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></font></blockquote><p class="H3" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px;"><font color="#2d2d2d"><span style="line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The same is true in your company.&nbsp;</span></font></p><p class="H3" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px;"><font color="#2d2d2d"><span style="line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Since every situation is unique, there is no perfect solution to any engineering, customer or competitor problem, and you shouldn’t agonize over trying to find one. This doesn’t mean gambling the company’s fortunes on a whim. It means adopting plans with an acceptable degree of risk, and doing it quickly. In general, the company that consistently makes and implements decisions rapidly gains a tremendous, often decisive, competitive advantage.</span></font></p><p class="Textnoindent" align="left" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px;"><strong style="line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Decision Making Heuristics</strong></p><p class="Textnoindent" align="left" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px;"><em style="line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">There are two types of decisions: Those that are reversible and those that are irreversible</em><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">. An example of a reversible decision could be adding a product feature, a new algorithm in the code, targeting a specific set of customers, etc. If the decision was a bad call you can unwind it in a reasonable period of time. An irreversible decision is firing an employee, launching your product, a five-year lease for an expensive new building, etc. These are usually difficult or impossible to reverse.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 10px 0px 0px;"><span style="line-height: normal; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">My advice is to start a policy of&nbsp;<em>making reversible decisions before anyone leaves your office</em>&nbsp;or before a meeting ends. It doesn’t matter if you’re 100% right 100% of the time. What matters is having forward momentum and a tight fact-based feedback loop (i.e.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/venturehacks/customer-development-methodology-presentation" style="text-decoration: underline;">Customer Development</a>) to help you quickly recognize and reverse any incorrect decisions.&nbsp;</span></p>