The big idea
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Groups know more and decide worse
A badly run group converges on the first confident opinion and calls the agreement evidence.
Problem Solving & Decision Making · Lesson 4
Solving Problems Collaboratively
beginner⏱ 18 min · 7 cards
Try it
Fix the Meeting
“Everyone writes their position before anyone speaks.”
Eight people are deciding whether to delay a launch. What helps?
Identify which failure is operating and what addresses it.
Key term
The cheapest improvement
One change to any group decision?
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Independent first
Everyone writes their position before anyone speaks. It defeats anchoring, conformity, and production blocking at once — and makes holding a minority view costless, because you committed before knowing what others thought.
Project Aristotle
What actually predicts team effectiveness
Google examined a large number of its own teams. Individual brilliance, seniority, tenure, and personality mix did not reliably predict performance.
Psychological safety did — whether members could admit error and voice doubt without penalty. Conditions are more changeable than people.
Nuance
The warning sign
Maester Note
Genuine agreement among thoughtful people is rare. Apparent unanimity usually means dissent is being suppressed rather than absent.
Quick check
What is 'resulting'?
You did it
Nice work
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