Last week we discussed strategic debt. Most technology decisions are made with incomplete information. What has changed is how incomplete that information has become. Leaders are constantly asked to commit while platforms evolve, vendors reposition, regulations shift, and internal priorities move. And to be frank, quite often, by the time clarity improves, the decision window has already closed.

This creates a familiar tension. Acting too early feels risky while waiting feels irresponsible. The pressure to choose correctly collides with the reality that certainty is unavailable.

Why waiting for certainty backfires

Many organizations treat uncertainty as a temporary obstacle. Afterall, human instinct is to pause, gather more input, and refine assumptions before committing. But this approach assumes the environment will eventually stabilize, which in today’s VUCA environment, it rarely does.

As time passes, the cost of delay accumulates. Strategy debt builds up: opportunities narrow, dependencies harden, and teams build workarounds that later become constraints.

Soon, what felt like caution quietly turns into drift, and by the time leaders feel ready to decide, the decision itself carries more risk than it would have earlier.

Decisions shape systems, not just outcomes

Technology decisions do more than produce results, because in today’s digital environment, they basically shape how the organization behaves afterward.

For example:

1. A platform choice determines who can act independently.
2. A security decision affects how friction shows up in daily work.
3. An integration strategy influences whether teams coordinate naturally or rely on escalation.

And these effects compound over time!

When decisions are delayed, the system still evolves, but just without intent. And this can actually make things worse:

• Informal processes fill the gap.
• Shadow tools emerge.
• Authority blurs.

Reversing these patterns later is harder than making an imperfect decision early.

Tip #1: Shift the Question and Give Yourself Room to Experiment

In uncertain environments, leaders can benefit from reframing how decisions are evaluated:

Shift the question from whether a choice is correct, to how difficult it will be to change later.

Decisions that preserve reversibility reduce long-term risk. Similar to the concept of a prototype in agile environment, it allows adjustment when assumptions fail, and make it possible to learn without paying the full cost of being wrong.

This does not mean avoiding commitment. It means committing in ways that leave room to adapt. (Although some choices are inherently irreversible, many feel permanent only because they are structured that way.)

Tip #2: Shorten the distance between decision and feedback

One of the most effective ways to operate without perfect information is to reduce feedback delay. As we say at Smartt, “when something goes wrong, always increase touchpoint frequency.”

Systems that surface results quickly allow leaders to adjust while decisions still matter. Systems that defer feedback through reporting layers or long cycles increase the cost of correction.

Technology plays a central role here. The same tool can either accelerate learning or obscure it, depending on how it is integrated and governed. Leaders benefit from favoring decisions that shorten this loop. Faster feedback compensates for imperfect foresight.

Tip #3: Design operating models for uncertainty

Decision quality improves when the operating model supports change.

Rigid structures assume stable priorities. And when those priorities shift, friction appears. Momentum slows and renegotiation replaces what should have been simple adjustment. Flexible operating models acknowledge this uncertainty upfront. They allow capacity to move as needs evolve, which reduce the cost of changing direction, which in turn make decisions feel lighter because the system absorbs some of the risk.

This is the thinking behind models like FlexHours. Our goal with FlexHours is not to predict demand perfectly for clients, but to avoid locking effort into assumptions that are likely to change.

Tip #4: Implement governance structures that enables action, not delay

Uncertainty exposes often weaknesses in governance.

When there’s uncertainty in an environment with weak governance, two things tend to happen:

1. When authority is centralized, decisions bottleneck.
2. When authority is unclear, teams hesitate.

Both outcomes increase reliance on perfect information that never arrives. That’s why effective governance defines boundaries rather than approvals. Teams know where they can act and where alignment is required. And while escalation paths exist, they are not the default path.

Technology decisions should reinforce this clarity. Implement systems that make ownership visible and allow responsible action, instead of systems that slow response because they demand constant permission.

Tip #5: Accepting the cost of being wrong early

Teams operating without perfect information can benefit from a different relationship with error.

Whilst mistakes are inevitable, a team can keep them small, visible, and recoverable.

Leaders who accept this design their systems accordingly. They prioritize early signals over late certainty. They treat correction as part of the process, not a failure of planning.

This in turn reduces fear so that learning accelerates and decisions move faster.

What this means for leaders now

Perfect information is no longer a realistic prerequisite for action.

Leaders who wait for it will find themselves constrained by decisions they did not make, shaped by systems they did not design. Leaders who focus on reversibility, feedback speed, and structural flexibility create room to move, even when the future remains unclear.

The strongest technology decisions today are not the ones that get it exactly right, but rather, the ones that make it easier to respond when reality inevitably diverges from the plan.

Smartt’s FlexHours program can help you chart and implement new technology and marketing paths for your business with limited risks. If you are looking to accelerate your business, feel free to get in touch and see if we may be a good fit for each other!