1 Big Mistake to Avoid When Getting Stakeholder Input
Confidence is a poor predictor of competence
As a Product Manager, you make decisions about what problems to prioritize solving, but you’re not the expert on engineering, design, sales, customer relations, or marketing. How do you ensure that you’re getting the input from the right experts on the right topics?
Watch out for the “participation trap”
We often solicit input in interactive workshops where some personalities participate more than others. When someone participates more, they tend to have more influence on the decision.
However, participation is often driven by confidence rather than competence. And confidence is a poor predictor of competence.
How many times haven’t you seen someone with no background in design take up a disproportionate amount of talking time in a discussion of how to design a particular solution? Or seen a competent designer stay quiet in a heated design discussion, even though their perspective would be incredibly valuable?
If we’re not careful, we end up listening to whoever felt comfortable talking the most in the meeting, rather than soliciting the right expert opinions on the particular topic.
However, participation is often driven by confidence rather than competence. And confidence is a poor predictor of competence.
Why is confidence a poor predictor of competence?
Because novices often overestimate their own ability and experts underestimate their own ability, as described by the Dunning-Kruger effect. To learn more, check out this short 5-minute video for a brief, pedagogical explanation of the Dunning-Kruger effect.
I have certainly been one of those individuals with lots of “expert” opinions after learning just a little bit about a field… At those times, I had too much influence over the decision relative to my actual expertise.
What can you do instead?
Try out these ideas in your next workshop:
- Get help from topic experts to facilitate relevant meetings. If the topic is feasibility and planning, how about asking a developer or an engineering manager to facilitate the meeting?
- Make your colleagues aware of the Dunning-Kruger effect and discuss each other’s areas of expertise. Reflect together on how you want to weigh topic expertise in discussions.
- Think ahead about who knows the most about a topic in question. If an expert stays quiet on that topic, pull the expert into the conversation with a question.
