Lesson 2 of 5
Decision rights
9 min
Most program delays are not caused by bad decisions but by decisions nobody was sure they could make. Decision rights say, in advance, who decides what, who must be consulted, and when a decision moves up a level. They turn "let's take it offline" into "Dan decides by Friday".
A decision rights matrix
| Decision | Decides | Consulted | Informed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rank items in the team backlog | Product owner (e.g. Maria) | Scrum team | Grace |
| Approve a deviation from standard | Design authority | Process owner, test lead | Steering committee (monthly summary) |
| Change scope within budget and date | Grace with product owners | Workstream leads, Priya | Steering committee |
| Change budget, go-live date or contract scope | Steering committee | Grace, partner executive | All teams |
| Accept a process in UAT | Process owner (Dan, Maria) | Priya | Grace |
| Declare test exit criteria met | Priya (test lead) | Defect managers, product owners | Steering committee |
| Accept a residual risk at go-live | Executive sponsor | Process owners, Grace, Priya | Steering committee |
| Go or no-go for cutover | Steering committee | Luis, Priya, process owners | Whole program |
Contoso's decision rights matrix, simplified. One name or body in the "Decides" column, always.
The rule that matters most is in the last column of every row: exactly one decider. Shared decisions become nobody's decisions. If two people genuinely must agree, name who breaks the tie.
Thresholds and escalation
Decision rights work best with thresholds that place each decision at the lowest level that can make it well. Thresholds are usually set in money, days of schedule impact, and scope or risk level. When a decision crosses a threshold, it escalates automatically; nobody has to ask permission to escalate.
- TeamResolves within sprint scope and its own backlog
- Workstream leadResolves within workstream plan; schedule impact under one week
- PMO and design authorityCross-workstream trade-offs; deviations; impact under a month or within contingency
- Steering committeeBudget, go-live date, contract scope, residual risk acceptance
Quality decisions are business decisions
Three quality decisions deserve special care. Accepting a process belongs to its business owner, because they will run it. Declaring test exit belongs to the test lead, because it is a statement about evidence, not about desire. Accepting residual risk, such as going live with a known defect and a workaround, belongs to the sponsor, because it trades business exposure against date. No one should be pressured to make another person's decision for them: a test lead does not accept business risk, and a sponsor does not declare that tests passed.
Watch decision latency as closely as you watch the schedule. At Contoso, Grace tracks how many decisions are waiting and for how long. A design decision that waits three weeks for the design authority can cost a full sprint for the team that needs it, which is why every pending decision has a "needed by" date in the log.
Record the decision
Keep a decision log: date, decision, decider, options considered, rationale and linked objects. In Contoso's case, decisions affecting scope link to requirements in SAP Cloud ALM, and gate decisions are recorded in the quality gate itself. A decision that is not written down tends to be re-made every month.
What would you do?
Four days before cutover, a severity 2 defect in intercompany billing between company codes 1710 and 1810 is still open. A workaround exists. The partner asks Priya to "sign off that we can go". What is the right response?
- Decision rights name exactly one decider for each type of decision, plus who is consulted and informed.
- Thresholds in money, time and scope route decisions to the lowest capable level and trigger escalation.
- Process acceptance, test exit and residual risk acceptance belong to different people.
- Log every significant decision with its rationale and link it to the affected objects.
Check your understanding · not graded
Lesson check
1. How many deciders should each decision type have?
2. Who accepts residual business risk at go-live?
3. What does a test lead's exit sign-off state?
4. What triggers escalation in a decision rights model?