How to deal with the fallacy of collective judgment?

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father_gorry2014-02-27 09:24:02

Project management

father_gorry, 2014-02-27 09:24:02

In general, it is strange that this question was not raised anywhere. I am relatively new in project management, but I have not seen books on the topic. The essence of the problem:
As you know, the team is always inclined to make a suboptimal judgment. This is due to the Dunning-Kruger effect, according to which people are not aware of the limits of their competence, and believe that if they do not understand something, then it does not exist. The second component is hyperconformism, shown in Asch's experiment: people trust others more than themselves, and the more, the more these others. If the overwhelming majority around is sure of something, a person agrees even with outright absurdity. These two processes lead to the fact that the team quickly makes a suboptimal decision and does not agree to change it in any way, using increasingly stupid arguments in its defense.
Why the solution itself, as a rule, is not optimal - I was also able to understand this. A person, as mentioned above, trusts one himself less than two neighbors. And if someone less competent nearby offers a simpler solution, more people understand it. At the same time, those people do not understand a more complex alternative - they believe that it simply does not exist (DC effect). As a result, the team is captured by simple, destructive ideas.
So, in one of my latest projects, the team decided to completely rewrite the engine of a recently purchased site, instead of learning and developing the existing one. Usually I resort to dictatorship in such cases, but this time, for the sake of experiment, I started a second, unfamiliar and much less professional team, which, using the right decision at the beginning, achieved great success. Tellingly, the first team did not change their minds to the end. For the sake of laughter, you can give their last "arguments", but I will not.
So, I already have two options for solving the titled problem, working, but not ideal:
1. Dictatorship. Allows you to solve the problem, but people run away.
2. Disunity. Recruit people from outside or destroy, quarrel among themselves a ready-made team. The method is good, but does not allow you to "grab a star from the sky."
What would you suggest?

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4 answer(s)

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Pavel K, 2014-02-27
@father_gorry

I am in the same situation.
They chose a middle ground between dictatorship and complete freedom of action for the team.
The team has a leader who works on a par with the rest of the team, but has the right to veto, as well as more detailed information on tasks that must be solved without fail, and which can be postponed until later. Therefore, if the majority wants to do things that are not quite optimal, depending on the importance of the tasks, they either veto or agree, but never say what to do exactly like that, period. It is important that the team itself comes to the right decision, then the team will enjoy and profit.
It happens that an agreement in the team comes after a paintball match or a drinking bout.
I emphasize that it works exactly on a par, i.e. visiblehe does not receive advantages and is considered his own, so his small dictatorship is normally perceived by the rest of the team.
Yes, there are situations when this leader, for subjective reasons, chooses a non-optimal path himself, but he himself corrects his jambs, working to victory, and the rest of the team is with him, as "his own".
Here it is also important that we pay by the hour, and there are practically no fines for jambs.
In truth, there are, but they are invisible and are not presented as fines.
In general, something like this...

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Dmitry Filatov, 2014-02-27
@i_dozi

Do you have a business there or for the soul? If a business, then you are going to earn money. Which solution is the most effective and profitable is the right one. Count, compare, show. If someone still does not understand and continues - change. Yes, if he is a genius. Diligence, constancy of results and adequacy - much more important.

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Puma Thailand, 2014-02-27
@opium

Somehow, it’s not in vain that project managers and team leaders are there to make decisions, and the team should already do and give advice.

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m0nym, 2018-07-19
@m0nym

So, in one of my latest projects, the team decided to completely rewrite the engine of a recently purchased site, instead of learning and developing the existing one.

It has nothing to do with Duning and his friend Krueger.
A team of techies decided to do what she was more interested in. Since economic aspects are not important for techies.
And the manager allowed it.