Test 15 · Managers of managers
Decision Debt
Every decision you sit on charges interest to someone else’s week.
The short answer
Decision Debt is a free calculator for the cost of decisions that wait on you. For each kind of decision, enter how many land on you a week, the days each waits and the people blocked, plus a cost per hour. You get hours and money lost a week and a year, and the kind to hand down first.
Drafted with AI for Jay Sampat, Chief Mirror Holder · coach review pending
- Who it’s for
- Managers of managers whose inbox is where decisions go to wait.
- What you get
- Hours and money lost a week and a year to decisions waiting on you, and the most expensive kind of decision to hand down first.
The calculator
The hours and money your team loses waiting on you
Your decision debt
- Every week
- $4,688
- 93.8 hours of other people’s time
- Every year
- $215,625
- 4,313 hours
The most expensive kind to hand down is Priority calls between teams: $103,500 a year, 48% of the total. Write down who could make it without you, and up to what limit, and tell their team.
The approval sitting in your inbox while a whole team waits.
Try a question now
I let someone make a decision I’d have made differently.
A question from The 42 Test that touches this topic.
Decision Debt
Why put a number on decision debt?
Because the cost is invisible to the person causing it. When a decision waits on you, your day carries on; the people blocked by it are the ones who lose time. A number in hours and money makes it obvious which decisions to hand down first. We call that cost decision debt.
Use the calculator: three example kinds of decision are filled in to start. Change them to the ones that wait for you.
How does the calculator work it out?
- For each kind of decision, hours lost a week = decisions a week × working days each waits × people blocked × hours in a working day × the share of a blocked person’s time that’s lost.
- The share lost starts at 25%, an assumption rather than a benchmark: blocked people often find other work. Put in your own estimate.
- Money is the hours × the cost per hour of a blocked person. The starting cost per hour is an example figure. Put in your own.
- A year is a week × your working weeks a year (46 by default).
- The most expensive kind is the one with the biggest share of the total. That’s the one to hand down first.
What should I do with the number?
Take the most expensive kind of decision and write one line: who can make it without you, and up to what limit. Read the real cost of indecision at work for the wider picture, check whether your managers grow around you with Amplifier or Bottleneck, and see whether your span leaves you time to decide with Span Check. Every tool for this stage is on the Managers of managers page.
Drafted with AI · coach review pending
Questions people ask
- What is decision debt?
- It’s the time other people lose while decisions wait on you. Every approval or call that sits in your inbox charges interest to someone else’s week. The glossary entry explains the idea; the calculator puts a number on it.
- How do I stop being a bottleneck for decisions?
- Start with the most expensive kind of decision, the one the calculator names. Write down who can make it without you and up to what limit, tell their team, and don’t reopen their calls unless something is unsafe or illegal.
- Isn’t every blocked hour a lost hour?
- No, which is why you set the share of a blocked person’s time that’s lost. People usually find other work while they wait; the starting value of 25% is an assumption, not a benchmark. Put in your own.
- Is anything I type saved or sent?
- No. The calculator runs in your browser. Nothing is stored or sent anywhere, and the page forgets everything when you close it.
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