Abilene paradox

[ciphergoth]

Just randomly found this on Wikipedia: Abilene paradox - the possibility that a group decision will be made for X even though every single person in the group would prefer Y. This is a familiar situation to me, and I'm sure that's usual. It can be hard to express a preference weakly - you say "I'd slightly prefer not to get starters", and no matter how many caveats I put on that, it's rare that anyone is prepared to say "well, I really like their spring rolls so I would like to get starters if everyone else is OK".

On the other hand, it's kind of a good problem to have - I'd rather these problems than have everyone fighting to put their own needs ahead of everyone else's...

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I've actually seen this used as a serious strategy -- a group that, knowing that there will be stupid decisions that they don't really care about but have to make anyway (e.g., where they will eat dinner each night while traveling together), appoints a rotating dictator. ("It's Tuesday, so Karen is Restaurant Czar.")

See also: shotgun rules for meetings: http://www.svbug.com/shotgun_rules.txt

-- Nathaniel

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

I'd be fascinated to know how those BAD rules worked out in practice. That's a very interesting strategy.