Consensus and Collaboration
These are two similar ideas, but are in actuality quite different and can lead to different results.
It is important to remember the differences between the two.
Here are the definitions for each, courtesy of Dictionary.com
con·sen·sus (kən-sěn’səs)
n.
1. An opinion or position reached by a group as a whole
col·lab·o·rate (kə-lāb’ə-rāt’)
intr.v. col·lab·o·rat·ed, col·lab·o·rat·ing, col·lab·o·rates
1. To work together, especially in a joint intellectual effort.
In a dynamic environment such as production, a culture driven by consensus generally sacrifices speed for constraints (and meetings).
Whereas with collaboration, you work with your colleagues towards a shared goal. Each individual may have their own opinions of how the goal should be achieved, but as long as the end goal is met: it works well, in an efficient manner, is easy to integrate and can scale well, then the methods of implementation are secondary. A risk you must manage to avoid with consensus is ‘trying to please everyone, but not completely pleasing anyone’.
Consensus does have some advantages. It can result in a more well rounded view and solution of an issue. And when developing software/projects in a waterfall style method (vs agile) it may be quite favorable. The waterfall approach allows for planning ahead exactly how everything will be done and reaching consensus.
But, I have found that for groups such as production engineering, the agile/collaboration approach tends to work best.
On core R&D development, the waterfall/consensus approach can work well, but I have seen the agile/collaboration work well on these type of projects as well.
All key people (especially the end-users and clients) should always be given the ability to provide input. One best practice that I have seen in the collaboration process is to assign each person involved in a project an area of focus that matches their expertise. This person is the owner of their area, and it is their responsibility to facilitate all of the input and feedback, weigh that against their own knowledge and experiences and propose a result that is in their best judgment the right way to proceed.
