# Who decides? > Sort out who decides, who advises, who agrees and who can veto; name the decision mode before you start; move fast on reversible decisions and keep a decision log. - Course: [From Specialist to Manager: Your First Year Leading a Team](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager.md) - Module: Decisions and team structure - Lesson 25/32, ~22 min - Source: https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/who-decides ## Where we are **Alex Tutor:** July 2027, your seventh month as lead. Dmytro and Sofiia finished at the end of June, and with vacations it's you plus two coordinators on shift until September. **Alex Tutor:** This month is about decisions and how the team is organized. Today: who decides what. ## Four decisions on one desk **Alex Tutor:** Four questions are waiting this week. A new summer shift pattern, with a late shift for EU evenings. A refund exception. The wording of a new reply template for package questions. **Alex Tutor:** And Sofiia: she asked whether Klasna wants her back for the September restart. She has another offer and must answer by 16 July. **Sofia:** I'm the lead. Don't I just decide all four? **Alex Tutor:** Some are yours, some aren't, and some you should hand down. Start with **decision rights**: for each question, who decides, whose advice is sought, who must agree and who can veto. **Alex Tutor:** Advising means your input is heard. Agreeing means nothing happens without your yes. A veto lets you stop a decision, usually on narrow grounds such as the law or the budget. **Iryna:** The Sofiia question is mine: hiring and budget. Hanna has to agree on the money. I want your recommendation by Monday, with reasons. **Alex Tutor:** One more role check before we look at modes. What exactly is Hanna's part in the Sofiia decision? > **Exercise:** Iryna can't offer Sofiia a September contract until Hanna says yes to the money. What is Hanna's **role** in this decision? > **Exercise:** Match each decision to **who decides** it. ## Name the mode before you start **Alex Tutor:** For anything you decide, say up front how: **I decide**; **I decide after consulting you**; **we decide together**; or **I delegate it to you**. **Alex Tutor:** Each fits something. A safety issue: I decide. The shift pattern touches everyone's evenings: I decide after consulting. A team ritual: we decide together. The template: delegated. **Alex Tutor:** Try the four modes on four situations. Which mode fits each one? > **Exercise:** Match each decision to the **decision mode** that fits it best. **Olha:** Can I say something? When a lead asks "what do you all think?", I never know whether it's already decided. If it is, just tell us. **Alex Tutor:** That's fake consultation: asking for input on something already settled. People notice, and next time they stop giving input. If you've decided, say so and explain why. > **Exercise:** Which announcement is **honest about the decision mode**? ## Reversible or not **Alex Tutor:** Next, how much time a decision deserves. A **reversible decision** can be undone cheaply: try the new shift pattern for two weeks, and if it fails, switch back. **Alex Tutor:** Make reversible decisions fast and close to the work. Don't run a three-week consultation for a two-week trial. **Alex Tutor:** The Sofiia question is different. If nobody answers by 16 July she takes the other offer, and you can't undo that in September. Hard-to-undo decisions deserve more options, more input and more time. **Sofia:** So the shifts I settle this week, and for Sofiia I do my homework properly. **Alex Tutor:** Yes. And not deciding is a decision too: letting the deadline pass means choosing no. **Alex Tutor:** Quick check on that last point. > **Exercise:** Sofiia, a seasonal coordinator from the spring, asked whether Klasna wants her back in September; she has another offer and must answer it by 16 July. **True or false:** if the 16 July deadline passes before anyone answers Sofiia, no decision about her has been made. > **Exercise:** Which of these decisions deserves the **slowest, most careful** process? ## Write it down **Alex Tutor:** Last piece: a **decision log**. One shared page. Each entry says what was decided, who decided, the options, why, and when to revisit it. **Alex Tutor:** It stops the same question coming back every Monday. And this summer, when everyone takes vacation at some point, it lets people catch up without asking around. **Olha:** That would help. After my last vacation I spent a morning finding out why the templates had changed. **Alex Tutor:** Keep entries to five lines and link them from the team channel. A log nobody reads is just another file. > **Exercise:** Which fields belong in a **decision-log** entry? Choose all that apply. ## Consulting is not voting **Sofia:** If I consult them and most want no late shift at all, do I have to follow them? **Alex Tutor:** No. Consulting means you hear them and weigh what they say; the decision stays yours. Afterwards, explain what you took from their input and what you didn't. **Alex Tutor:** If you mean to follow the majority, that's "we decide together", a different mode. Pick one and stick to it. **Iryna:** Same goes for me. On Sofiia, you advise and I decide. I'll tell you what I decided and why. > **Exercise:** **True or false:** once a lead consults the team, the lead has to follow the majority view. ## Announce the shift decision **Alex Tutor:** Now the shift pattern. Write the message that opens the decision: the mode, whose input you want, by when, that it's a trial, and when you'll review it. **Alex Tutor:** Keep it short enough to read on a phone. Half the team reads the channel between tickets. **Sofia:** Should I say which option I prefer? **Alex Tutor:** Yes, if you have one. Say it's a draft, and what would change your mind. That's still honest consultation. > **Exercise:** Write the **message to the team** that opens the decision on the summer shift pattern (3–5 sentences): the mode, whose input you want and by when, that it's a trial, and when you'll review it. > **Key ideas** > > - **Decision rights**: for each question, agree who decides, whose advice is sought, who must agree and who can veto. Some decisions are yours, some your manager's, some you delegate. > - Name the mode before you start: I decide; I decide after consulting; we decide together; I delegate. Consulting is not voting. > - Never fake consultation. If it's decided, say so and explain why. > - A **reversible decision** (a two-week shift trial) should be fast and close to the work; a hard-to-undo one (letting a rehire chance lapse) deserves more options, input and time. Missing a deadline is a decision too. > - Keep a **decision log**: what, who, options, why, when to revisit, five lines each, linked from the team channel. **Alex Tutor:** Next: once you know who decides, how to make the decision well. Real options, a trade-off table and imagining the failure before it happens. - Previous lesson: [Case: ticket ownership, Olha and Taras](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/ticket-ownership-case.md) - Next lesson: [Real options and the pre-mortem](https://productovi.com/courses/from-specialist-to-manager/options-and-the-pre-mortem.md) --- Productovi Learning. Free, no sign-up needed to read.