Get everybody in the same room so there is no scapegoat
Daniele Catalanotto
Apr 15, 2022
A Service Design principle for a better work and feedback culture
In the book "The Lean Startup", Eric Ries explains a simple tactic to avoid a culture where we blame colleagues for mistakes.
The idea is like this:
When something goes wrong, get everybody in the same room. Get those who were involved in the project, those who experienced a problem from it and even those who analyzed it.
Not all of these people might have the solution to the issue or even have something to say. But this approach makes sure that you can’t use one person or one department as a scapegoat. Because if you try to do so, that person will defend himself or his peers.
Little side notes
- This is the second draft of this Service Design Principle.
- I was able to reduce the lengths by 26.02% compared to the first version.
- Once adapted, even more, this principle will be part of the book "Service Design Principles 201-300"
- As always feel free to share comments, feedback or personal stories to improve this principle.
3 comments
Patrick Marcelissen
May 3, 2022
Hmm. I have doubt here. For a or in a project I would say yes. But for customer engaged situations I don’t say that for pragmatic reasons. Key here is empored people / teams so solve it right away and also a culture of foreword thinking instead of blaming something / someone. The customer doesn’t care who is to blame.
Daniele Catalanotto
Jun 4, 2022
Indeed that's a difference that should be clarified, this matters for internal projects, the customer doesn't have to be in such a meeting. As you say: The customer doesn’t care who is to blame, I would go even further for the customer the "organization" is to blame.
Daniele Catalanotto
Oct 31, 2022
The third draft of this Service Design Principle
When a mistake happens, get everybody in the same room. Get the people involved in it, the ones who experienced it and those who analysed it in the same room (2).
Not everyone has a solution or even something to say. But it ensures that we can't blame others. Because if you do so, this person will defend herself or her peers.
So let me ask.
What can you do to avoid blame in your work culture?
Footnotes
(1) Eric Ries (2011). The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses. Crown Business. Available at https://extra.swissinnovation.academy/hIWf accessed 19 October 2022.
(2) Customers don’t need to be involved at this stage, because they don’t really care why the problem happened or who is to blame as for them, the company as a whole is to blame. As we say in french “don’t wash you dirty laundry in public”.
Daniele’s notes
- This is the third draft of this principle.
- I’ve reduced the length of this principle by 16 % compared to the previous draft.
- I’ve added a conclusion question to help the reader turn this principle into action.
- Added a footnote to clarify that this is an internal process where customers aren’t always needed as suggested by Patrick Marcelissen