MEPX
Chapter 6 of 10All chapters
  1. 1Process over outcome
  2. 2Matching effort to stakes
  3. 3Framing the decision
  4. 4Working with uncertainty
  5. 5Where judgement bends
  6. 6Deciding in groups
  7. 7When to gather more
  8. 8Committing and changing course
  9. 9Personal decisions
  10. 10Reviewing decisions

Chapter 6 of 10

Deciding in groups

More heads, worse process.

What goes wrong

The first speaker anchors the room, seniority silences disagreement, and the group converges before the options are examined. Consensus then looks like agreement.

  • Collect written views before discussion.
  • The most senior person should speak last.

Structured techniques

A pre-mortem asks the group to imagine failure and explain it. Assigning someone to argue the opposite case makes disagreement a role rather than a risk.