How to Make Good Product Decisions Faster

One of the biggest differences I’ve seen between senior and junior PMs is the speed of decision making.

Example:

  • Junior PM: “Let me research this a bit…” — days later — “There isn’t enough data, I’ve been struggling between these three solutions.”
  • Senior PM: “Let’s go with this one. It’s the best option we can make right now.”

The difference isn’t luck or recklessness — it’s a muscle built through experience and good decision frameworks.

Why It’s So Important

Speed of decision making directly affects the speed of product development.

  • Every delay in decision-making slows down the entire team.
  • It blocks the PM from moving forward to the next high-ROI problem.
  • And in today’s market, speed is survival — the faster you decide, the faster you learn and adapt.

After years of coaching PMs, I’ve found that great PMs don’t just make good decisions — they make them faster. Below are my go-to mental models for speeding up your product decision without trading off the quality.

#1 ROI, ROI, ROI

Every great PM develops an obsession with this mindset: What’s the ROI?
Your brain should automatically scan for impact, effort, and leverage before committing to anything.

Ask yourself:

  • What’s the impact if I do this?
  • How much effort or risk does it take?
  • Is there a quicker path to 80% of the value?
  • Which task delivers the highest impact first?
  • What if I skip the low-impact ones entirely?

Think Global, Not Local
If you want to grow as a PM, think like a leader — think globally, not locally.

Don’t just polish your feature, think about how your decision moves the product or the company.
Senior PMs think in terms of weeks of impact, not weeks of effort. They focus on actions that create visible business outcomes across users or revenue — not perfecting the edge cases only 1% of users see.

Think Functional and Non-Functional
Sometimes, a small UX fix, a clearer onboarding flow, or a better help doc can lift satisfaction or retention more than a big feature that takes months. Broaden your definition of impact — it’s not always about new features.

Common Symptoms

  • Spending a sprint polishing empty states instead of spending the same time simplifying onboarding and boost activation.
  • Spending too long researching or perfecting low-impact problems when higher-impact opportunities are waiting.
  • Saying yes and working on all requests from stakeholders and users.

#2 One-way vs. Two-way doors

About risk management. I would borrow Amazon’s concept: some decisions are reversible (2-way doors), some are not (1-way doors).

If it’s reversible — bias toward action. You can always adjust later.
If it’s irreversible — take your time, research, get alignment, and decide carefully.

Knowing which door you’re facing helps you balance speed vs risk effectively.

Jeff Bezos explains one-way door decisions and two-way door decisions

#3 Deal with Ambiguity – Making Decisions Without Enough Data

In product building, you’ll rarely have all the data you want. Especially when working with new ideas or limited resources.

To handle that:

  • Use your intuition and experience. You’ve seen patterns before — trust them as a starting point.
  • Acquire context quickly. Use your product, talk to users, read feedback.
  • Seek diverse perspectives. Ask peers or domain experts for their intuition too.
  • Align early with stakeholders. Don’t wait until the end to get buy-in.

Speed here doesn’t mean guessing — it means acting with the best information available right now.

#4 Time-box Your Discovery and Decision

A common trap: endless context-switching and indecision.

Monday: Problem A.
Tuesday: Problem B.
Next Monday: Back to Problem A again.

Instead, time-box both discovery and decision-making.

  • This week: Deep dive and decide on Problem A.
  • Next week: Move on to Problem B.

Decisions need deadlines. Without one, “thinking” becomes procrastination.

Final Thoughts

Speed of decision-making isn’t about rushing. It’s about prioritizing impact, acting with confidence, and learning fast.

In product management, speed compounds — every quick decision unlocks the next opportunity for your team, your users, and your company.