Operations
The two-hour rule for escalations
Why every stuck decision should have a clock on it.
· 3 min read · · Decided no. 107
When something is stuck, the cost is rarely the decision itself. It is the waiting: a team blocked, a customer chasing, a deal cooling.
The rule: anyone can escalate a stuck decision, and the person it goes to answers within two working hours, even if the answer is “not yet, by Thursday”. The answer creates a deadline, and the deadline does most of the work.
It sounds strict. In practice it frees leaders, because they stop carrying a dozen half-open questions in their heads.