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Comment by tj-teej | Hacker News Reader

At risk of using management lingo, there's a big difference between one-way-door (decisions which are hard to undo) and two-way-door decisions (decisions which can be easily undone).

Asking for permission (or asking anything), in a complex domain is difficult and always carries a cost.

In two-way-door decisions, forgiveness IS easier. But an incorrect, one-way-door decision is hard to "forgive" ("accountability" and the like).

Well-run companies (e.g. Amazon) understand this very well and have processes to only require permission only in one-way-door decisions.

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This is such a terrific point. Let's think of forgiveness and permission approaches as useful tools that work best in context, that do not have moral characteristics on their own. I wish this were at the top because it should be the context for every other top level post I've read.

I had never heard the phrases "one-way door" and "two-way door" in decision making until yesterday, and now this is the 2nd time I've seen it. The person who mentioned it to me yesterday works at Amazon. Funny coincidence...

I'm curious about how one decides whether a decision even is one-way or two-way? I can think of some contrived examples (demolishing a building is one-way, deciding where to get lunch today is two-way) but what about more complex and realistic examples? Is it that the cost to reverse that decision is so high that it's effectively a one-way choice? And can you make a one-way idea into a two-way idea in some scenarios?

I think it's more of a guiding principle rather than a steadfast rule. Like I would think "releasing code to production" is a one-way door. Even though it can be undone, it can have pretty bad consequences and breaks existing protocols. On the other hand "researching a new topic" cannot be technically undone, but it is a two-way door because there is not any harm if it goes wrong and you're working in the best interest of your team.

Do you know of a better metaphor than "one-way-door"?

It is memorable, but wierd.

A single lane road.

As opposed to a two lane road with traffic flowing in either direction.

I think it's the difference between getting on a plane (you have no option to get off) and getting on a bus (you can get off and take the other bus back at any stop)

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