Some decisions are easy. Some stick with you longer than you’d like. And some are permanent. James Clear (of Atomic Habits fame) recently shared a simple but brilliant way to think about decisions: hats, haircuts, and tattoos. It’s an easy mental model that applies to work, Agile, and life in general. Let’s break it down.
Hats: Quick, Low-Stakes Decisions
Try one on. If it doesn’t work, swap it out. No big deal.
Hats are reversible decisions. If you’re picking between two brands of sticky notes, testing a new daily stand-up time, or experimenting with how your team handles backlog refinement, you’re in hat territory. The cost of making the wrong choice is low, so speed matters more than perfection. Try a bunch and see what works.
Agile Take: Most process tweaks and team rituals fall into this category. If changing something is as simple as saying, “Let’s go back to the old way,” then move fast and iterate.
Haircuts: Fixable, but Uncomfortable
If you mess up, you’ll recover, but not right away.
Haircuts represent decisions that take time to fix. You can’t instantly undo them, but you also won’t suffer forever. Hiring a new team member, rolling out a major workflow change, or choosing a new Agile tool falls into this category. If it’s a bad call, you’ll need time to course-correct, but you’ll survive.
Agile Take: Be thoughtful with haircut decisions, but don’t let fear of a temporary awkward phase stop you from trying something new. Switching from Scrum to Kanban? Adopting a new estimation method? These might take a few sprints to sort out, but they’re rarely permanent mistakes.
Tattoos: The Big, Permanent Calls
Once you make them, they stay with you.
Tattoos are the high-stakes decisions. They shape your team, company, or career for years. Examples? Merging two departments, restructuring an Agile transformation, committing to a long-term vendor contract, or deciding to become a product-led organization. These choices define your future.
Agile Take: Tattoos require deep thinking, stakeholder alignment, and a clear understanding of long-term impact. Move slowly, plan ahead, and make sure you won’t regret it in a year.
Applying the Model in Agile Leadership
This mental model isn’t just a fun analogy, it’s a practical way to prioritize how much effort, risk, and debate each decision deserves. Not everything is a tattoo. The next time someone gets stuck overthinking a minor decision, ask: Is this a hat, a haircut, or a tattoo?
Shoutout to James Clear for the insight. What’s a “tattoo decision” you’ve made in your career? Drop a comment and let’s compare ink.
