I’ve been reading a book called Why Not? by Yale professors Barry Nalebuff and Ian Ayers which provides “four simple tools that can help you dream up ingenious ideas for changing how we work, shop, live, and govern.” - its a highly recommended read. I was fortunate enough to attend one of Barry’s lectures last week and he’s already given me a few new ideas.
One idea is that of a Devil’s Advocate for corporate governance. It explains the religious origins of the term and the benefits of having a person that takes a counter-point for the sake of argument. This person is a trusted adviser and has a duty to take this contrarian view, therefore their argument is not as one of dissent. In the book, explanations are provided on how this technique could be applied to Corporate Governance, where strong-arm techniques can easily over-run outside opinions.
The Devil’s Advocate an interesting role on the subject of Information Governance - possibly an architect assigned within the Information Development Organisation. Although this approach could be applied more generally to any solution, I think it makes particular sense for those related Information Governance decisions, as:
- Success requires concession and buy-in from multiple parties
- Solutions are complex so multiple viewpoints are important
- It is easy for one group to dominate, but as information flows horizontally across organizations the impact of issues can be asymmetric
- It is easy to get “stuck” when someone brings up a counterpoint due to emotion and frustration. Using a devil’s advocate alternative viewpoints are quickly put on the table (it is their duty to identify issues)
We’ve all seen strong-arm techniques or argumentative competitors ruin projects. When attempting to re-design an organisation to take a stronger focus on managing information, the shift is bound to run into issues.A trusted and educated view that raises arguments without being seen as a dissident would certainly be productive as a way to identify ownership roles, responsibilities and possible solutions.
