The problem is we, as humans, never have a full view of how various actions will play out in the world around us. Often times, what we thought was our biggest advantage becomes our downfall.

...and vice versa. We also have a similar tendency to discount aspect of our selves that, in reality, allow us to get ahead in whatever we are trying to achieve.

In 4 months of doing a startup, I've seen this concept play out in obvious and subtle ways. What's the advantage of having a small team and little money when you're entering a market with $1 billion dollar players? We're able to take risks that larger organizations would never take. Plus our situation forces us to focus at a level that established businesses can never sustain because our team lives or dies by our successes and failures.

At a more subtle level, I constantly need to remind myself that my strengths hide my weaknesses. This can cause surprise when an unseen vulnerability rears its head. For example, when I develop software for business (either clients or personal ventures), I make extreme use of open source software. Anytime I can pull a package or library into a project that someone else wrote, I do.

While this also me to increase productivity (and therefore, my hourly rate), it can lead to problems when a project stakeholder needs things tweaked or customized. Since I'm working on a code base that I am not entirely familiar with, simple thing often take a long amount of time. So, while using open source software can lead to a heavy increase in my output, I need to be aware that it may cause problems later.

While simple and fairly obvious, these examples illustrate the two things we need to remember when assessing our own strengths and weaknesses and applying them. First, perception is key. Inside our own heads, we can always find what we want: either strengths in our abilities or weakness. So, choose accordingly.

Second, we need to always be aware of the reality that we live in a complex weird where even small actions can have big consequences. To deal we this, we need to work constantly analyzing the past, present, and future to determine all possible outcomes. We also cannot take any planning too seriously or overly doubt ourselves, because inevitably things outside of our vision and control will affect us.

After having worked as a contractor for a number of startups and now as I work on my own, I have seen how poor decision making can inhibit progress while anyone is building something new. Part of the startup process requires that you define exactly what your organization is and what it stands for. This is accomplished through the thousands of decisions you must make.

Here's a few principles to help you (and your team) operate more efficiently in the startup environment by making faster decisions.

--

Right Only Means Not Wrong

I have found over and over again that striving to make the best/optimal decisions in every case can quickly kill a new idea. People are scared of looking stupid and don't want to present incorrect information, so they have a tendency to over research and prepare for even simple situations. However, in a startup, you would rather have something that works sooner rather than the ideal solution later.  When you have to make hundreds of decisions everyday, its often better to simply decide something and move on.

Example of doing this well: In software, there's always many options to solve any common problem, so just pick your favorite and move on. 

Example of doing this poorly: Arguing everyday about where to go to lunch.

Revertability

In a new company that doesn't yet have a function business model, operations change so quickly that often times, what was decided yesterday no longer applies today. Therefore, A key factor in any decision is the level of commitment that a particular alternative requires for the organization. If a decision can be made quickly and has a low level of commitment, it can easily be reverted, so do it. You can always change to another alternative later.  

Example of doing this well: Pick a name for your organization that you like and stick with it, you can always change later.

Example of doing this poorly: Immediately giving new employees full-time contracts, making them difficult to fire.

Impact to Team

When your in an 'us against the world' situation, try to avoid decisions that will increase hostility, discomfort, or decrease moral amongst your team. Even if its better for business, you are going to have to live with these people for a long time.

Example: Letting the engineers decide what project management tools to use, don't force one on them.

Timing

Decision making in a lean startup environment is one area where the mantra 'why do today what you can put off till tomorrow' strongly applies. I have seen many arguments over things that don't yet matter take up a founder's time and energy. With time, many things that seem important, but are currently un-actionable, will either resolve themselves or may disappear entirely. So until you are in a position to take action on a decision, try not to think about it.

Example: Worrying about what salaries you will pay before you have raised/earned any money

Focus on Solutions, Not Problems

When a conflict or issue arises, people will often try to focus on the limitations that caused the conflict or issue and instantly assign blame. Focusing on the current problems when making a decision just reinforces this behavior.  Instead, immediately move toward finding a fix or alternative (especially if the issue is revertable). This will protect egos, create a sense of unity, and not hamper progress. Everyone will make a wrong decision or break something at some point (or much, much more frequently), so when its your turn or somebody else's, try to resolve and move on as soon as possible.

Example: (In a software startup) if your web server goes down due to engineer error, first fix it, then figure out why it happened and how to prevent the same problem in the future. Don't determine who was at fault then blame them.

Push Yourself

This last principle is not so much about moving forward, but about remembering why you are doing this. In the chaos of starting up, don't loose sight of the fact that you are doing something that has never been done before.  Constantly be on the lookout for ways to make things more challenging and more rewarding, don't always pick the easy way.  

--

By following these principles, move faster and be more agile, and create a stronger culture amongst your team. Before revenue, progress is the primary incentive/goal that drives your organization. So, always keep the ball rolling and don't let indecisiveness around petty issues slow you down.