Scaling Decision Latency

Decision latency kills velocity.

The time between “we need a decision” and “decision made” compounds into delivery delays. Every hour of decision latency creates downstream bottlenecks.

The Pattern

Early-stage teams often run decisions through founders or senior leaders. This works at 5 people. It breaks at 15. It collapses at 50.

The bottleneck isn’t the decision itself. It’s the waiting.

The Architecture

Reduce latency by:

1. Pushing decisions down: Default to local ownership
2. Defining decision frameworks: When to escalate, when to decide
3. Creating decision interfaces: Clear escalation paths

Design ownership like you design APIs: clear contracts, minimal coupling, explicit dependencies.

The Transfer

This applies beyond engineering. Product decisions, hiring decisions, strategic decisions — all benefit from reduced latency.

The question isn’t whether decisions are made correctly. It’s whether they’re made quickly enough to maintain velocity.