---
id: "concept-pocket-veto"
type: "concept"
source_timestamps: ["§ The OVIS framework for decision rights"]
tags: ["bureaucracy", "accountability"]
related: ["framework-ovis", "concept-consensus-management"]
definition: "An informal, unaccountable blockage of an initiative by a colleague or department operating within a consensus culture."
speakers: ["Jonathan Rosenthal", "Neal Zuckerman"]
sources: ["governance"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-governance"
originDay: 7
articleStem: "hbr-sig-59-consensus-decision-making"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/04/decision-making-by-consensus-doesnt-work-in-the-ai-era"
sourceTitle: "Decision-Making by Consensus Doesn’t Work in the AI Era"
---
# The Pocket Veto

**Definition:** An informal, unaccountable blockage of an initiative by a colleague or department operating within a consensus culture.

An informal, often invisible mechanism within consensus cultures (see [[concept-consensus-management]]) where a single colleague or department can stall or block an initiative simply out of an individual belief that 'this must stop.' Because accountability is diffused in consensus models, these pocket vetoes occur without formal justification or public ownership of the blockage.

The [[framework-ovis]] framework is explicitly designed to eliminate or materially reduce this practice by forcing vetoes to be formal, time-bound, and evidence-backed — which is also the intent of [[action-require-evidence-backed-vetoes]] within the [[framework-autonomous-scrum]]. Under OVIS, the *Veto* role is deliberately separated from the *Influence* role precisely so that a would-be pocket-vetoer without formal veto rights can raise input but cannot silently halt the Owner's decision.


## Related across articles
- [[action-physical-ritual]]