The Judgment That Never Leaves
When decisions don’t settle, leaders keep carrying judgment that structure should already hold. This post explores why unfinished tradeoffs slow work and how decision rules stabilize progress.
The Problem
Some decisions feel finished,
but they keep coming back.
The work moves forward,
yet the judgment never quite settles.
Questions resurface.
Tradeoffs get re-explained.
Exceptions quietly become the rule.
From the outside, it looks like responsiveness.
From the inside, it feels like weight.
Leaders stay available because they care about momentum.
They answer quickly.
They clarify again.
They step in to keep things moving.
Over time, something subtle happens.
The team stops deciding forward.
They wait.
Not because they’re incapable,
but because the decision has never fully settled.
When decisions remain personal, work hesitates.
Progress depends on presence.
The Shift
In early English courts, cases often stalled for reasons that had nothing to do with the law.
Judges weren’t overwhelmed by disputes.
They were overwhelmed by logistics.
Which cases went first.
What took precedence.
Who waited when schedules conflicted.
Without fixed rules, clerks escalated routine conflicts.
Judges re-explained the same tradeoffs again and again.
The courtroom wasn’t blocked by complexity.
It was slowed by ambiguity.
Eventually, the structure changed.
Calendars were fixed.
Precedence rules were made explicit.
Tradeoffs were decided once and held.
Judges stopped carrying scheduling decisions.
Clerks stopped asking.
Cases moved.
The authority of the court didn’t weaken.
It stabilized.
The shift wasn’t more judgment.
It was fewer moments requiring judgment.
What to Do
Decide the tradeoff once, then hold it
Identify where judgment is covering for ambiguity
Pay attention to decisions you’ve explained more than once.
Repetition is a signal.
It usually means the tradeoff was never made explicit.Name the tradeoff clearly
Most decisions resurface because the “why” was left vague.
Spell out what you are prioritizing and what you are not.
Clarity here prevents re-litigation later.Turn the decision into a visible rule
Write it down.
Make it accessible.
Let the rule carry the weight instead of your availability.
Decision rules don’t eliminate discretion.
They preserve it for what actually matters.
The Heartbeat
Leadership isn’t constant availability.
It’s deciding what no longer needs your presence.
When decisions don’t settle, teams wait.
When they do, judgment scales.
Clarity doesn’t slow work.
It releases it.
The Next Step
Which decision are you still carrying
that should already be settled?