Collect Opinions Independently Before Group Discussion

The power of independent discovery in decision-making comes from separating the three phases of group decisions: discover, discuss, decide. This approach prevents groupthink and ensures all voices are heard.

Rethinking Meeting Structure

• Most meetings try to accomplish three things simultaneously, which undermines decision quality:

  • Discover: Finding out what people think
  • Discuss: Talking about those ideas
  • Decide: Making a choice based on the discussion

• The fundamental problem: Only the discussion part should happen in meetings

  • When discovery happens in real-time, the loudest or most senior voices dominate
  • People conform their opinions to match others, especially those with authority
  • The true range of perspectives narrows dramatically

The Nominal Group Technique

• Collect opinions independently before any group discussion:

  • Send questions to participants before meetings
  • Have people submit responses privately (via forms, sheets, etc.)
  • Ensure people can't see others' responses until all are collected
  • Compile and distribute all responses before the meeting

• Benefits of independent discovery:

  • Reveals the true spread of opinions across the team
  • Prevents people from anchoring to the first or loudest opinion
  • Surfaces ideas that would otherwise remain unspoken
  • Creates a record of initial thinking for later reflection

Implementation Examples

• For product roadmap planning:

  • Ask everyone to independently rank potential features
  • Request 3-5 sentence rationales for their rankings
  • Share all responses before the meeting
  • Focus discussion on areas of disagreement

• For timeline estimation:

  • Collect point estimates, lower bounds, and upper bounds independently
  • Have people explain their reasoning
  • Use the meeting to explore differences in assumptions

• For real-time decisions:

  • When new questions arise in meetings, pause
  • Have everyone write down their thoughts independently
  • Then share and discuss

The Discussion Phase

• Make people feel heard through active listening:

  • Reflect back what people say without judgment
  • "I just want to make sure I understood what you said..."
  • Don't express agreement or disagreement during this phase
  • Call on everyone to ensure all perspectives are shared

• Focus on understanding rather than convincing:

  • People should convey why they believe what they do
  • Not try to convince others they're right
  • Avoid interrupting or saying "you're wrong"

The Decision Phase

• Decisions should also happen independently of the meeting:

  • Use a designated decision-maker model when possible
  • Or have people vote privately after the discussion
  • Don't force consensus or "alignment"

• Accept that disagreement is normal and healthy:

  • People don't need to agree to move forward
  • Acknowledge that different perspectives will remain
  • Use "nevertheless" to acknowledge input while moving forward