The core of good governance is effective decision making. Many equate this with “choosing’, but they are not the same. This is why John Boyd described decision making as the OODA (observe, orient, decide, act) loop. Our orientation towards internal and external stimuli, what we observe and neglect, how we choose from the options perceived, and execution of that choice all factor into decision quality. 

What makes for a good decision? Well, that's a value question, so we can use BCR to answer that. An ideal decision provides the best benefit/resource tradeoff, without delay or coordination costs, with no risk of failing in a time frame we care about. In practice that's impossible, of course, but the concept is still useful. 

When I look at DAOs through this lens, it's obvious that we often fall far short of an ideal decision.

• Members may not agree on what benefits they want, what resources they are willing to expend to get those benefits, and what their risk tolerances are.
• When everyone has to vote on everything, that has a cost and creates delays.
• While smart contracts may allow instant, guaranteed action in some situations, execution in other circumstances can still be slow, out of sync with intent, and prone to failure.

That’s the bad news. The good news is that all other organizations are also terrible at decision making. The difference? The improvement curve for tradorgs has largely stalled, while DAOs are just getting started.