The reflex
“We’ve already decided. Let’s go.”
New facts weaken the choice. But changing direction calls the work already under way into question.
The builder’s reflex
“Here’s what has changed since the decision. Let’s look at whether the plan still holds.”
Why
A decision drives other decisions: one team prepares a campaign, another builds a screen, a third announces a date. Every week spent on a wrong assumption adds work to undo.
Being wrong when you decided costs nothing: you decided with what you knew. What costs is carrying on after you have seen the signal. The price of the correction rises every day you put it off.
Going back on a choice takes work: warn the people committed, honour what was promised, decide what to keep. All the more reason to change early.
Write down in advance what would change your mind. When the fact arrives, you no longer have to fight your attachment to the work done: the decision is already written.
Try this
For your next choice, write three lines: the assumption, the fact that would cast doubt on it, and when you will look.
On that date, compare what you see to what you expected. Carry on, adjust or stop, and tell the people committed the same day.
Then look back at what the correction produced. You will know whether it dealt with the problem or only moved the question.
To discuss
Which recent fact deserves to reopen a decision?