A team can get really paralyzed waiting for things to be Decided™.
One of the most valuable things a senior can do on a team during production is make quick decisions to “put stakes in the ground” even on topics that are not yet 100% confirmed or aligned, and then document/broadcast those decisions.
Sometimes there are big unknowns or a lot of things that still need to fall into place, and while waiting, team members are blocked, or feel unsure, or like they need to make Plans A, B, C.
Cut the Gordian Knot: make a call and let people keep moving.
For this to work well you need a fairly healthy team culture: people need to be safe to make mistakes, communicating well, and have a shared understanding of “sources of truth”: which documents are “real”, ways for people to broadcast decisions to everyone affected.
This does have dangers! Sometimes over-committing to a plan that then changes later leads to a lot of wasted work.
This is why I specified “seniors”: someone who’s seen many iterations and has a broad view is more able to A: make calls that stick, and B: foresee what might change.
There are probably many exceptions to this that I’m not sure I can fully list or define here; when judgment calls are safe and valuable is very case-by-case, and you’ll need to, well, use your own judgment!
But when there’s uncertainty? See where you can put some stakes in the ground. Productivity and motivation loss from uncertainty can be much worse than the cost of pivoting afterwards.
NOTE that I am talking about, like, in-the-trenches decisions during production. Not pre-production, and not big sweeping edicts from on high.
I think my advice might be different or more nuanced for Directors and the like, whose “quick decisions” really CAN lead to months of productivity loss.
Oh, and last but not least:
I think people often do their best design work when they make quick decisions. These quick judgment calls will often be very good because you’re allowing your gut and your personal aesthetic to take the wheel. This can help get more personal expression into the work.