Something nobody tells junior builders: document the decisions you didn't make

Early on I learned something that saved me multiple times.

When a senior person or CEO told me to build something I had doubts about, I stopped just saying yes and building.

Instead I would lay out the possibilities first.

What could happen if this works. What could happen if it doesn't. Technical risks. Likely outcomes. My honest read on it.

Then I'd send it up and let them decide with full information.

If they still said go ahead, the decision was theirs on record.

Not mine.

This matters because in startups, when something fails, people forget who made the call.

They remember who built it.

If you just say yes to everything and execute, you absorb accountability for decisions you never actually made.

Writing out the outcomes before building forces the decision back to the person who should own it.

It also makes you a better engineer. You stop being someone who just ships whatever is asked and start being someone who thinks before building.

Has anyone else developed a system for this? Curious how other builders handle the gap between "I was told to build this" and "I am responsible for this."