Go for the disagreements
I started leading a new project recently and it’s a hard problem that many before me have avoided tackling due its breadth and complexity. There are also a lot of people with varying opinions on it. So, step one was for me to get a lay of the land, get the opinions of others, and write-up my understanding and general approach.
I spent a lot of time getting my head in the space, talking with my team, and building consensus toward a viable plan. After two weeks of investigation and iterations, we had a plan that we liked and felt would be the best path forward.
However, after one meeting with key stakeholders, we ended up scrapping the plan and completely changing direction. I quickly learned that one of the more senior stakeholders didn’t agree with our direction, and for good reasons, which after a heated debate, quickly lead to a better plan. While this outcome was much better than it happening much later down the road, I decided to reflect on how I could have prevented the wasted time.
After some thought, I realized that I had focused the team on forming a collective opinion we could agree on as a team, rather than unearthing disagreements and opposing views. It was in those disagreements, that the most valuable and salient information was actually discovered, which is necessary to shape the path toward a solution.
I have an innate bias for action and getting started, so focusing on disagreement is counter-intuitive to me, because I want to quickly get to agreement. It turns out though that getting to the disagreements first, which is often the heart of the matter, is the best path toward the optimal solutions.