Consensus

Change is hard, especially in a consensus-oriented environment.

Big ideas often require consensus. Here are the main stages of building consensus for an idea. Some ideas are so self-evident that they can breeze through all of these steps with the able guidance of a trusted leader. Other ideas are more controversial, and need thoughtful progression through these stages. When an idea to solve a problem encounters resistance, the consensus-minded approach is to get the group to agree on where we are at in the list below (with respect to solving the problem), and build necessary trust to move to the next stage of consensus-building.

Building consensus
Here are 4 stages of building consensus around a complicated engineering ideas and complicated strategic directions:


 * Strawman - Talk in depth about an engineering idea that doesn’t have consensus, potentially evangelizing that idea. At this stage, the goal is to get more people know about the idea, and maybe more people agree that it’s a great idea.  Important exit criteria for this stage:
 * Clear idea of the problem the strawman is intended to solve
 * Is something we should just "be bold!" about? How do we reverse the decision if it was a mistake?  Are there any consequences?
 * Is this an experiment? If so, how do we keep from overinvesting in the experiment, thus setting ourselves up for future sunk-cost fallacy.  Find agreement on a framework for evaluating the results of the experiment.
 * Problem definition - Figure out what problem we're really trying to solve, and if it's really a problem. Important exit criteria for this stage:
 * Clear definition and agreement on the problem the strawman is intended to solve
 * Agreement that the problem is an important one to solve
 * Consensus on the priority about the importance of solving this problem (or consensus that it isn’t a problem after all)
 * A list of clear problem statements that can be prioritized and can help evaluate proposed solutions
 * A reasonably complete list of viable options for solving the problem


 * Field narrowing - Narrow down choices for solving a problem. Important exit criteria for this stage:
 * Consensus about which options are truly viable, where stakeholders have had opportunity (not necessarily obligation) to be part of the conversation.

Depending on the complexity and gravity of the solution/direction consensus is needed for, it may be important to hold a meeting (or multiple meetings) at each stage of the consensus-building process. The "Good meetings" page describes this in more depth.
 * Consensus - Arrive at rough consensus about the best solution to a problem. Important exit criteria for this stage:
 * Consensus on the single most viable solution to a problem, with agreement to postpone or eliminate competing solutions from consideration.
 * Bonus outcome: a plan to implement the solution. This is obviously desirable in many cases, but it may be worthwhile to agree on a direction/strategy rather than deciding on an explicit plan of action.

Evangelization
Once you've built consensus to implement something, your work isn't done. If your proposal is innovative enough, that means that it may not make sense to people comfortable with the status quo. Furthermore, you should still be open to the idea that you might have been wrong about the idea (and not draw people into supporting it purely via sunk cost fallacy)

Important elements of evangelization:
 * Enlist - recruit people to help implement a solution we have consensus around. In the case of a direction, the enlistment process never ends.  For implemented solutions, get people to support/maintain/use the solution
 * Educate - Teach people about the solution or feature. In the case of an engineering direction, the enlistment phase may be done, but people will still need education to teach them how to get on board.
 * Assimilate - Fit the solution into the wider ecosystem. In this process, you may discover even better solutions to the problem or better directions to pursue.  Prepare to work with the wider world, and accept that someone else's solution may be better.
 * Evaluate - solid evidence-based evaluation of a solution is often the most effective evangelization. Beware, though, you may learn the direction or solution was a bad idea.  Be humble, and figure out how to undo the damage.