Dampening Differences | Glossary

Definition: 

In a team sometimes bad decisions re mad which are inevitable, or some of this team’s bad decisions were the result of team members not adequately questioning one another. There are insufficient differences exists between team members which needs to be amplified with techniques like probing questions. 

During meetings, facilitators ask questions to pull out dissenting opinions. Questions like what alternative approaches have you considered and rejected before accepting this one? What could go wrong with this approach? What has to go right for this approach to work? What could make us regret this decisions? Is there any information we don’t have that would help us be sure of this? Another good way to amplifying differences is to change how the team makes decisions, is to do opposite if they currently require consensus. Introducing a new team member with significantly more power, experience knowledge. Asking hard questions to ensure different viewpoints are heard, change the team’s decision-making style, encourage dissenting viewpoints. Identify one difference that if dampened would improve team performance. Someone could be removed from the team who would dampen that difference.

Further Reading

Book: SUCCEEDING WITH AGILE Software Development Using Scrum by Mike Cohn