Summarise the Trade-offs in a Technical Decision Your Team Is Stuck On

Technical teams get stuck on decisions when the trade-offs are genuinely difficult, when the decision criterion is unclear, or when the wrong person is being asked to decide. This structures the trade-offs, checks for a hybrid approach not yet on the table, assesses reversibility (which changes how risky the default is), and identifies the single question that would make the decision obvious. It also names who should make the call.

My team is stuck on the following technical decision:

{DECISION_DESCRIPTION}

The options being considered:
- Option A: {OPTION_A}
- Option B: {OPTION_B}
{OPTION_C}

Additional context: {TECHNICAL_CONTEXT}

Summarise the trade-offs:
1. What each option optimises for: the primary constraint each option solves well and what it sacrifices to solve it
2. The false dichotomy check: is there a hybrid or third option that has not been considered that would better balance the main trade-offs?
3. The reversibility assessment: how easy is it to change from one option to the other if the initial choice turns out to be wrong, and does this affect which default is safer?
4. The decision criterion: the single most important question to answer that would resolve the choice, stated so clearly that answering it makes the decision obvious
5. Who should decide: which person or role in the team should make this decision and why, if it has not already been decided