Most delays are decision delays
Teams rarely stall on the work. They stall waiting for someone to decide. Naming the decider up front removes the most common cause of drift. Ambiguous ownership is the silent killer of momentum.
DACI in one line
Driver moves it forward, Approver decides, Contributors give input, Informed get told. Before a big decision I write those four roles down. Five minutes of clarity saves a fortnight of I thought you owned that.
RAPID for the messier ones
When a decision crosses many functions, I use RAPID (Recommend, Agree, Perform, Input, Decide) to separate who consults from who actually decides. It is especially useful when powerful stakeholders confuse I have an opinion with I have a vote.
One decider, many voices
Consensus is great for buy in and terrible for speed. I gather input widely but keep a single named decider, so the team commits after the call instead of relitigating it. Disagree and commit only works when everyone knew who held the pen.
Real example
Across cross functional programs at SmartNews I introduced a lightweight DACI on every major decision doc. The immediate effect was fewer meetings that existed only to figure out who was allowed to say yes.