The "Traffic Light" System: Better Decision Making From Meta
I stole this framework from Meta's Head of Product and Chief Information Security Officer
Why does decision making feel so agonizing?
Ever found yourself in a room where everyone has an opinion, every option has valid counterpoints, and no decision is reached?
Your initial 30-minute meeting stretched to 45 minutes. Then came the follow-up meeting, and another follow-up after that...
Why does this keep happening?
One major reason is the reliance on binary criteria like "pros vs. cons" or "effort vs. impact." This simplistic approach can ignore the nuances of each option.
Another common issue is the lack of airtime for all options, especially those deemed suboptimal. Every possibility deserves consideration to avoid missing out on potentially good solutions.
Furthermore, the absence of agreed-upon evaluation criteria, research, and a key decision-maker can create chaos. When there are too many conflicting questions, it's hard to make progress. Questions like:
Is it worth it?
How will it affect people?
Should we build it this way or that way?
Do we have the resources or time?
Should we proceed at all?
These questions pull in different directions, making it difficult to find a unified path forward.
The “Traffic Light” system brings clarity to chaos
During a meeting with a Meta Product Manager (PM), I voiced my struggles with decision-making. He introduced me to the “Traffic Light” system used by Meta’s leadership.
Thanks to Naomi Gleit, Meta’s Head of Product, and Guy Rosen, Chief Information Security Officer, I now rely on this system for tackling complex decisions.
Here’s how it works: each decision or potential decision is color-coded in a matrix as red, yellow, or green. This visual representation helps you evaluate a range of possible outcomes and make the best decision based on available information. I’ve found this rubric invaluable, whether dealing with personal dilemmas or project-related choices.
The steps are:
Identify the problem
Select criteria
List options
Apply traffic light colors to your options
Make a decision
Your output will look something like this:
Let me share two real-life examples with you.