Skip to content

Instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

@richkuz

richkuz/use-your-49-percent.md

Created February 1, 2025 14:21
Show Gist options
  • Save richkuz/a5a4f8230f1dced9879ae078a9820c2c to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Save richkuz/a5a4f8230f1dced9879ae078a9820c2c to your computer and use it in GitHub Desktop.
Download ZIP
Use your 49%
Raw
use-your-49-percent.md

Use your 49%

In most software teams I've worked on I think about decision making this way:

  • Product Manager / Product Owner has 51% of the vote for what we choose to build.

  • Designer has 51% of the vote for how it looks.

  • Architect/Tech Lead has 51% of the vote for how it's built.

  • Engineering Manager has 51% of the vote for who builds it and the development process.

Everyone has the remaining 49% of the vote. Use it!

  • Help Product make informed decisions by offering opinions on what we build and feasibility tradeoffs.
  • Raise better technical approaches to the Tech Lead. Bias towards showing over telling.
  • Pair up with the designers on the concepts and offer suggestions, especially where it's possible to cut scope. Your end users will ultimately decide if it's usable, so get it in front of users quickly.
  • Advocate to your manager for projects about which you're passionate. Use retros to voice concerns about process.

If you don't know what to do next, make a decision. Bias towards action. Forgiveness over permission. When you're 80% sure, act. We can always revert code; they're just text files. Most decisions are 2-way doors.

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment