Why does your team keep redoing the same work?

You ship constantly and it does not feel like progress. Decisions come back, work gets thrown away, and the same argument returns every few weeks. Four questions and you will know which of four causes it is.

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Questions

About this check.

Why does my team keep redoing the same work?

Usually one of four reasons: you genuinely learned something new, which is not waste; decisions are made in conversation and never written down, so they get remembered differently and quietly relitigated; somebody with real veto power finds out too late and objects when the work is already done; or nobody is able to end an argument, so decisions are abandoned rather than made.

How should a small team record decisions?

One running page, newest at the top, four lines per decision: what was decided, why, what was rejected, and what would change it. It takes ten minutes a week and it ends the category of argument where everyone remembers the same meeting differently. Anything heavier will be abandoned within a month.

Who should make the final decision in a product team?

Name one person per area, chosen by who lives with the consequences rather than by seniority, and say it out loud in writing. Everyone else gets the right to be heard before the decision and no right to reopen it afterwards. Consensus is a good input and a terrible decision rule, because anything that cannot be closed comes back.

Is it free, and where do my answers go?

Free, with no account and no email. Everything runs in your browser, nothing is sent to a server, nothing is stored, and I never see what you clicked.

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