One-Way Door
A decision that is difficult expensive or impossible to reverse.
Plain English
A choice you cannot easily undo.
In context
One-way-door framing encourages more evidence and care when reversal costs are genuinely high.
Example
“Changing the customer identifier is a one-way-door decision.”
When you'll hear this
- strategy
- architecture review
- risk assessment
Common misunderstanding
Many decisions presented as irreversible become reversible with staged design.
Also known as
irreversible decision
Commonly used by
Related terms
Often compared with
Updated: 2026-08-25
