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The 37signals Guide to Making Decisions is a collection of 38 questions the company uses as general principles for thinking through choices. It is not a required checklist, a step-by-step method, or a scoring system. Its questions help teams examine whether a decision is necessary, who should make it, what could change the answer, and what the choice will mean for other people.
What is the 37signals Guide to Making Decisions?
37signals presents the guide as an explanation of how the company thinks about decisions. It opens: “A company is essentially two things: a group of people and a collection of decisions. How those people make these decisions is the art of running a business. This guide shows how we do it.” Read the guide on 37signals.
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The page describes its prompts as general principles to keep in mind, not requirements or a comprehensive checklist. It provides no prescribed sequence or scoring method. The page also says it is a work in progress, so its wording may change; it does not give an original publication or revision date.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsAll 38 questions in the guide
These questions appear in the source’s order. They are prompts to choose from, not steps that must all be completed.
#1 Best Overall
- Why are we deciding anything at all? Does a decision actually need to be made here?
- Is the right person making this decision? Not the right role, but the right person with the right information, context, and insight? Who’s merely chiming in?
- If we remove the immediate impact, how do we think we’ll feel about this decision a year from now?
- Why hasn’t this decision been made already? Why didn’t we decide before?
- What’s taking so long to make this decision? Why are we hesitating? What does that reveal?
- Why would someone else make a different decision? What’s the other side—or two or three—look like?
- Can we make this decision smaller? Can we take one big decision and turn it into three smaller ones?
- How easily can we reverse the decision?
- What was our first instinct on this decision? Are we now just walking around in circles trying to justify that gut reaction with data?
- What would happen if we just didn’t make the decision?
- What happened the last time we made a decision like this?
- What are we looking forward to after the decision is made? What are we afraid of?
- How can we make this decision easier? What parts can we eliminate from consideration?
- Is there even a wrong decision?
- Do we anticipate making a different decision if we wait until tomorrow morning to make it?
- Is any decision better than no decision, or is no decision better than any decision?
- What other decisions will be impacted by this decision?
- Will this decision eliminate the need to make other decisions, or will it create the necessity to make even more decisions?
- What missing information would lead to making a different decision?
- Will this decision make more work for people that don’t have extra time for that work? Or will it eliminate work?
- Could this decision be a good one for someone else to practice making?
- When do we have to decide?
- Will this be a one-and-done decision, or will this be a repeating decision?
- Is anyone outside the company depending on this, or is this a decision of our own making?
- How does this decision impact customers vs. impact us?
- Is this primarily a data-based decision, or an intuition, gut-based decision?
- Would another opinion help or hinder?
- If we were forced to make a decision right this second, what would it be?
- Where do we think we’d be today if we made this decision 90 days ago?
- Is there anything in this decision we’d regret if we didn’t take X, Y, or Z into consideration?
- Do you even care which way this goes? If not, why are you involved?
- When and how will we know whether the decision was the right one, or if it even mattered?
- When the consequences of our decision appear, are they likely to be visible with the naked eye or do they require a microscope to detect? If the latter, does it even matter?
- What principles are we bending if we make this decision?
- Are we asking multiple people to make a decision that one person should be making?
- Is the return on effort worth it?
- What gets easier if we make this decision? What gets harder? Will easier remain easier in the long term, or is it short-term easy but long-term hard? And vice versa.
- In the end, is this about money?
How to use the questions in practice
Start with the question that best exposes the uncertainty in front of you. The guide has no required order; a team deciding whether to act at all may begin with necessity and timing, while a team already committed to considering options may focus on ownership, alternatives, or reversibility.
Check whether a decision is needed
“Why are we deciding anything at all?” and “What would happen if we just didn’t make the decision?” help reveal whether a choice is genuinely necessary or whether not acting is a viable option. If waiting matters, ask when a decision is due and what information might change the answer.
Rank #2
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Identify who has the context to decide
The guide distinguishes the right person from the right role. Consider who has the relevant information and insight, whether additional opinions would improve the choice, and whether a group is being asked to decide something one person should own. It also asks whether someone else could make the decision as a useful opportunity to practice.
Explore alternatives and reversibility
Ask why a thoughtful person might choose differently, whether the decision can be split into smaller choices, and how easily it could be reversed. These prompts make room for alternatives beyond the first instinct and help clarify whether a smaller or more reversible commitment would be preferable.
Consider consequences and effort
Look beyond the immediate impact: who will do more or less work, how customers are affected relative to the company, and what other decisions may follow. The questions about return on effort and what gets easier or harder direct attention to both short-term convenience and longer-term effects.
Decide what evidence would matter
Ask what missing information could actually change the decision, whether the choice is mainly data-based or intuitive, and how the team will recognize its consequences. The guide also asks whether those effects will be observable and meaningful enough to warrant attention. These prompts support reflection; they do not establish that a choice will be correct.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the guide does—and does not—provide
- It provides: a set of questions for examining decision ownership, alternatives, timing, reversibility, information, impacts, effort, and money.
- It does not provide: a validated decision algorithm, mandatory company policy, comprehensive checklist, or guarantee of a good outcome.
- It does not report: a measured success rate or quantitative finding. The number 38 is simply the count of prompts on the page.
The guide is published as a web page. The official 37signals books page does not list a physical edition of this guide. For a separate, more research-oriented treatment of decision-making, MIT Press lists Baruch Fischhoff’s Decisions: Studying and Supporting People Facing Hard Choices in paperback and ebook formats, with a publication date of October 14, 2025. It is further reading, not a 37signals book or an endorsement by the guide. See the MIT Press book page.
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