Stop Calling It ‘Alignment’: How Product Teams Can Make Better Decisions
Let’s play a drinking game.
Drink every time you hear the word “alignment” in a meeting. Oh, you’re drunk.
Here’s another: everyone nods through a meeting, then nothing happens afterward. Ambulance on standby.
If nothing was decided, nothing was aligned.
Regardless of your company’s size, most alignment meetings aren’t about clarity — they’re about avoiding a decision.
Alignment feels safe because it sounds productive. Everyone nods, slides get approved, and you leave the room feeling like something moved forward.
But what actually changed?
If the decision didn’t, the alignment didn’t either.
Teams confuse agreement with clarity.
Alignment isn’t about everyone liking the direction — it’s about everyone knowing which direction you’re taking and who’s accountable for it.
If nothing was decided, nothing was aligned.
This meeting could’ve been a decision.
How to Turn Alignment Into Action
You don’t need more alignment meetings — you need decisions with owners.
Here’s a simple checklist that fixes 90% of situations where people get off a meeting and don’t do what was discussed:
✅ End every conversation with Who decides what, and by when?
✅ Write it down — anywhere visible (Notion, Confluence, Jira).
✅ Give every decision an expiry date: When will we revisit this?
Your team will immediately move faster once decisions stop disappearing into the ether.
Replace “Alignment” with These Habits
These aren’t bureaucratic processes — they’re lightweight habits that turn discussions into direction.
Why Product Team Alignment Really Matters
True alignment isn’t about agreement — it’s about confidence in direction.
When your team knows why they’re building something and who made the call, you unlock momentum.
The fastest teams aren’t the ones that avoid conflict — they’re the ones that make decisions, document them, and move on.
Closing Thought
Alignment is good.
Decisions are better.
The best product teams don’t meet to agree — they meet to decide.
Tired of alignment meetings that go nowhere?
Let’s design a product org that moves fast and decides with confidence.
