We've all been in that meeting that could have been solved in the first 10 minutes and instead dragged on for a whole hour because nobody could actually decide anything.
Everyone had opinions, but nobody had authority. So round and round it went.
"What do you think about the alt text approach?" "What about the menu?" "And the dropdown widget? What framework should we use there?"
These questions, although valid, get passed around the room like a hot potato. Everyone makes great points that are immediately questioned. The same arguments resurface from different people who put on their small twist on them.
Until someone suggests "let's think about it more" and suddenly you're scheduling another meeting to make the decision that should have happened today.
Accessibility decisions get stuck in circles because nobody wants to own the outcome. So everyone defers to someone else who conveniently isn't in the room. And technical decisions feel too weighty for one person to make, even when the options are obvious.
So the work stalls while everyone discusses theoretical approaches. You lose momentum and your users continue hitting barriers while you debate the perfect solution.
It might sound impossible to solve.
It is not.
If you designate a clear decision-maker before the meeting starts and set decision deadlines within the meeting itself, you're almost sure to reach a decision. And when you can't reach consensus, someone needs the authority to say "we're going with option B, let's move on." It might be imperfect, but that's okay.
Imperfect decisions made quickly beat perfect decisions made never.