Team, group and meetings

Deciding together, under a hierarchy: the biases of the collective.

Together we decide better, provided everyone dares to say what they think. The biases in this family describe what stifles disagreement (groupthink, authority, conformity), what dilutes responsibility (bystander effect, social loafing) and what divides (group membership).

Countermeasures are organisational: opinions given before the discussion, devil's advocate, the boss who speaks last. See the devil's advocate.

The Bandwagon Effect (Trend Effect)We adopt an idea, a tool, or a method because many others are adopting it. Where trend effects hit (technical choices, methods, opinions in meetings), how to spot them, and how to defend against them.GroupthinkWhen the search for harmony stifles a close-knit group's critical thinking. Where it strikes (committees, design reviews, steering committees), how to spot it, and which procedural rules prevent it.Authority biasToo much weight is given to the opinion of a person in a position of authority, even outside their area of expertise. Where it strikes (reviews, committees, technical decisions), how to spot it, and how to defend against it.In-group biasWe favor members of our own group (team, profession, site, company) over others, even when the group is arbitrary. Where it strikes (relations between teams, hiring, assignments), how to spot it and how to reduce it.The bystander effectThe more witnesses there are to a problem, the less each person feels obligated to act. Where it shows up (alerts, incidents, quality, technical debt), what we really know about the Kitty Genovese case, and how to make someone’s action unavoidable.Social loafingIndividual effort drops when it is diluted in a collective, because each person's contribution is no longer identifiable. What Ringelmann and Latané showed, where the effect strikes in teams, and how to contain it without policing people.False consensusWe overestimate the proportion of people who think, choose, or would act like us. Where it strikes (meetings, quick decisions, client and user relationships), how to spot it and correct it with data.