OpenAgile Primer on Consultative Decision-Making

What is Consultative Decision-Making?
a method for individuals, teams and organizations to take coherent action based on a unified vision

The primer on this topic addresses how a team will make decisions together. It also addresses the way in which a team will become unified and act a single team.

Concepts and information about Consultative Decision-Making

 * Consultative Decision-Making is to rooted in the investigation of truth.
 * Understanding is achieved through the use of Consultative Decision-Making.
 * It requires a humble posture of learning to be effective.
 * The consultative process rests on the understanding that all human beings are essentially noble.
 * Ideas belong to the group rather than to individuals.
 * Detachment from one's positions and opinions regarding the matter under discussion is needed.

Quotes
"We never undertook to do any thing of any importance which was likely to affect each other, without mutual consultation. We were generally a unit, and moved together." - Frederick Douglas

"It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it." - John Steinbeck

"Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk." - Doug Larson

"To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science." - Albert Einstein

"Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment." - Buddha

"A 'No' uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a 'Yes' merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble." - Mohandas Gandhi

"Errors of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it." - Thomas Jefferson

"Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." - Winston Churchill

"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude." - Maya Angelou

Axiom, story or example
Unified Action

One team doing software development had a member of the team who did not like the agile process. In an interview, he said that he thought that agile was a ridiculous idea and it would never work. And to prove this, he said he would do the best job he could to follow the rules of an agile approach. He said that when agile failed the team, no one would be able to blame the failure on doing agile improperly. After just two weeks of working with an agile process, this team member had completely changed his mind. By following the rules, he had proved to himself that agile was the best way that the team could be doing its work!

Consultative Decision-Making can be likened to the scientific method. A group of people consults on a problem and comes up with a hypothesis of how to act to solve the problem. As a group, they then test the hypothesis by acting in a united fashion. Based on the results of the action, the group can then consult further to determine the next steps. If the results are negative, then another hypothesis can be explored. If the results are positive, then the group can move on to the next problem. However, it is possible for uncontrolled variables to ruin the experiment. In Consultative Decision-Making, united action is required to control the variables. If a person does not act in accordance with the decision of the group, and if the results of the action are insufficient to solve the problem, then the group does not know why. Is it because the decision was bad? Or is it because not everyone fully supported the decision?

References (links)
http://www.openagile.com/OpenAgileProductsAndServices - Consultative Decision-Making on OpenAgile.com

Draft for Publication
'''"We never undertook to do any thing of any importance which was likely to affect each other, without mutual consultation. We were generally a unit, and moved together." - Frederick Douglass'''

Consultative decision-making is a method for individuals, teams and organizations to take coherent action based on a unified vision. The process requires that all people involved in making a decision put themselves into a new frame of mind where truthfulness, humility and detachment are uppermost, rather than competition, debate and arguing. This means that after a decision is made, all those involved will fully support the decision, not just giving lip-service, but wholeheartedly acting in accord with the decision.

Rules of Consultative Decision-Making
Consultative decision-making is based on the following simple rules:
 * Everyone is encouraged to contribute to the discussion; a diversity of views is welcomed
 * No idea is owned by any individual and therefore it is okay to change your own mind
 * Offence should never be given nor taken
 * Personal attacks are absolutely forbidden; Aggressive interruption is considered bad behaviour
 * Everyone should be able to fully express themselves in a frank, amicable, and courteous manner



Unified Action
Discussion ideally results in unanimous support for a line of action. However, if unanimity is not possible, a majority can carry a decision. In this case, though, once a decision is made, regardless of whether or not you voted for it, you fully support the decision. The reasoning is simple: by fully supporting the decision in unified action, whether or not the decision is correct, through reflection, a better way will become clear. Adjustments can then be made based on collectively learning about better approaches through experience.

Consultative decision-making can be used in all aspects of the OpenAgile process, it requires Truthfulness, and it is an essential component of OpenAgile.