Comparisons
Pairs that get conflated in real conversations. Neither column wins — what decides is the situation. Each record leads with the confusion, because the confusion is the reason the record exists.
Outcome vs outputFirst version vs prototypeDecision record vs one-pagerSuccess metric vs guardrailReversible vs irreversible decisionsFeature flag vs long-lived branchNumbers vs conversationsIncident vs bug
Reversible vs irreversible decisions
What people get wrong about this pair
Every decision gets the same meeting. Reversible ones wait weeks for a committee that could have been a Slack message; irreversible ones get decided in a hallway because they looked small — a public API field, a pricing tier, a data model nobody can migrate.
Reversible
Use it when
Decide fast, with the person closest to the work, and write down how to undo it.
Irreversible
Use it when
Decide slowly, with the people who will live with it, and write down what would have to be true.
| Aspect | Reversible | Irreversible |
|---|---|---|
| Examples | Button copy, a flag rollout, an internal tool | Public API shape, pricing, data retention, a vendor contract |
| Right speed | Hours to days | Days to weeks, with a written case |
| Who decides | The person doing the work | The people who own the consequences |
| What to write | How to undo it | What would have to be true for it to be right |