Two-Way Door Decision
What is a two-way door decision?
A two-way door decision (also called a Type 2 or Level 2 decision) is a changeable, reversible decision that can be made quickly by individuals or small groups.
The concept was introduced by Jeff Bezos in his Amazon shareholder letters, using the metaphor of walking through a door. With a two-way door decision, you can walk through the door, see what's on the other side, and if you don't like it, you can easily turn around and come back through. If you make a suboptimal two-way door decision, you don't have to live with the consequences for long—you can reopen the door and go back through.
These decisions contrast with one-way door decisions, which are consequential and irreversible. With one-way door decisions, once you walk through and don't like what you see, you can't get back to where you were before.
When should teams use the two-way door framework?
The one-way door/two-way door framework helps teams decide which decisions should be made quickly and which should be more deliberate and cautious.
For two-way door decisions, teams can move fast and don't need to wait for perfect data. Because these decisions are reversible, teams learn more by acting and experimenting than by spending hours debating.
In product discovery, most decisions are two-way door decisions: which opportunity to pursue, which solution to test, and how to prioritize the opportunity space. Once you choose a target opportunity, you'll test whether you made the right decision by prototyping and experimenting. If you learn you didn't choose the best opportunity, you can always "walk back up the tree" and choose another opportunity.
Why does the two-way door framework matter?
This framework helps teams overcome analysis paralysis and over-thinking. When teams recognize that most product decisions are reversible, they become less invested in each solution, which allows them to make more data-driven decisions without feeling like they've sunk too much time into any one choice.
For a two-way door decision, speed matters more than certainty—you can always reverse course if needed.
Learn more:
- How Much Time Should You Spend in Product Discovery?
- Prioritize Opportunities, Not Solutions
Related terms:
- One-Way Door Decision
- Decision-Making
- Opportunity Solution Tree
- Assumption Testing
Last Updated: October 25, 2025