Product Problem or Decision-Making Problem?
- wetzel8716
- Jan 6
- 1 min read
When CEOs tell me they have a “product problem,” it frequently traces back to unclear decision-making.
Not bad decisions. Just… ambiguous ones. Undefined ones. Slow ones. Competing ones.
Here’s what it looks like inside the company:
Engineers start work before alignment because decisions arrive halfway through the sprint.
Roadmaps get reworked constantly because no one knows who actually owns the final call.
Sales and Product escalate the same issue to different execs and get different answers.
The product team becomes risk-averse because every decision feels reversible… until it isn’t.
Strong product management is impossible without strong decision architecture.
The healthiest companies establish three things early:
Who decides what. (The actual decision-maker, not the loudest voice.)
What inputs are required for a good decision.
When decisions must be made — and when they can’t be revisited.
Clear product decision-making is a force multiplier.