The Subtleties of Debate in Engineering Teams

One of the things I love about our team at Expert360, is our diversity. Not just diversity in terms of gender, cultural background and so on but also diversity of opinion. Research has shown that diverse teams outperform less diverse ones; and a key driver is diversity of thought.

I make a point of never hiring someone simply because I think they’ll agree with me. I actively encourage the challenging of ideas and constructive debate to ensure that we consistently make good decisions.

But here’s the rub: sometimes any decision today is better than a decision that takes days or weeks to make. My friend, Chris Iona puts it perfectly:

“Make the least bad decision today.”

You can always change your mind later. Long debates just slow you down and that’s the last thing a startup (or almost any business!) needs.

Of course, opining on important topics can be enormously valuable but the greatest engineers have strong opinions that are loosely held.

Here are a few things I like to think about when debating things:

1. It’s OK to be skeptical but be actively skeptical: basically, don’t knock it before you try it. If a colleague is really motivated to try an idea, let them have a crack at it but use evidence rather than opinion to make the decision. You may even find you were wrong all along.
2. Following on from 1, learn to be OK with being wrong. You are not defined by your ideas and the more often you are wrong, the more you will learn. Just make sure you find out quickly and don’t repeat the same mistakes!
3. Use empathy when debating. Easier said than done sometimes but try and put yourself in the other person’s shoes. One fun way to do this is role playing. If you are debating an idea with a colleague, try reversing the roles. Try and present each others argument (i.e. the opposing view) and see what you learn.
4. Make decisions. If you find yourself debating for a long time (say 30min or more) ask yourself: what is the least bad decision right now? What would be the cost of changing your mind later vs the cost of going with the decision now? Remember that perfection is a myth and a decision now is almost aways better than dragging stuff out.
5. Know who is making the decision. Often teams have debates that go on for ages because nobody really knows who is going to make the decision. This is where the RAPID framework comes in. If you get stuck in a debate, decide as a group who has the D (and R, A, P, & I).
6. Finally, make sure you understand logical fallacies. We all fall back on cognitive bias from time-to-time but if you understand when you might be doing this decisions can often become crystal clear. See: Your Logical Fallacy Is.

Never stop striving for greatness. Just remember to be pragmatic and keep moving forward.

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