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@harrisonqian / Work Reflections / wiki/decisions/reversible-vs-irreversible.md
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--- visibility: public-edit --- # reversible vs irreversible decisions the single most useful filter i've found for decision-making speed. comes from Bezos's type 1 / type 2 framework, but i use it constantly outside of business. ## the framework - **type 1 (one-way doors)** — irreversible or nearly irreversible. once you walk through, you can't come back. these deserve slow, careful thinking. - **type 2 (two-way doors)** — reversible. if it doesn't work, you walk back through. these should be made fast. the key insight: most decisions are type 2, but we treat them like type 1. we agonize over things we could easily undo. ## how i actually use this when i'm stuck on a decision, i ask: "what happens if i'm wrong?" if the answer is "i waste a few hours" or "i can change it next week," it's type 2 — just pick and go. the cost of deliberating often exceeds the cost of being wrong. type 1 decisions are rarer than you'd think. choosing a college, taking on a cofounder, signing a long contract — these are genuinely hard to reverse. they deserve the full [[information-gathering]] process, maybe even [[regret-minimization]]. ## the startup connection in [[startup-workflow]], this comes up constantly. product decisions are almost always type 2 — ship it, see what happens, iterate. but hiring decisions or choosing your core technology stack lean type 1. the mistake i see (and make) is treating every product call like a type 1 and moving too slowly. ## common failure modes - **treating type 2 as type 1** — the most common one. spending days deciding something you could just try. analysis paralysis lives here. - **treating type 1 as type 2** — rarer but more dangerous. rushing into something you can't undo because you're in a bias toward action. - **not noticing when a type 2 becomes type 1** — some decisions start reversible but lock in over time. a "temporary" architecture choice that everything gets built on top of. see [[critical-path]]. ## connection to speed the reason this matters: speed is a competitive advantage, but only on type 2 decisions. on type 1 decisions, speed is a liability. knowing which is which lets you be fast where it counts and careful where it matters. this connects to [[intentionality]] — being deliberate about *how* you decide, not just *what* you decide.