No Kings: How Do You Make Good Decisions Efficiently in a Flat Organization?
"If there is a good enough solution X, don’t ask people what they think about it. Instead, ask everyone if they can live with it and if not, why"
If you’re the one raising objections to a solution:
- Before you object, weigh whether or not your objection reveals a serious issue. It’s okay to make a remark like “I believe there is a better decision and it’s this, but I’m also okay with the current choice.” It’s also okay to suggest improvements to the idea (or the implementation, if you’re discussing a pull request for example) without vetoing the current choice. Make clear what type of objection you’re raising.
- If you believe the choice has a blocking flaw, try to make your feedback as clear as possible so that the decision-maker can address it properly.
- If you believe the choice has a blocking flaw, try to find enough time and energy to convince opponents. When you differentiate between non-critical feedback and a fundamental flaw and prioritize the latter, you’re able to conserve the time and mental energy for the most important discussions.
If you’re the one deciding:
- Be vigilant and make sure the discussion doesn’t stall on non-critical, “not the best solution” feedback.
- If there is a discussion which cannot converge, ask participants to clarify if objections to a proposal address fundamental flaws or remarks which should be taken in consideration.
- If there is a good enough solution X, don’t ask people what they think about it. Instead, ask everyone if they can live with it and if not, why.
- Don’t feel like you have to default to majority rule.
Consensus is the path, not the destination
A final quote from the IETF document:
We don’t try to reach consensus in the IETF as an end in itself. We use consensus-building as a tool to get to the best technical (and sometimes procedural) outcome when we make decisions.
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