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Avoiding groupthink at work
Maintaining critical thinking in collaborative UX environments
Imagine you are planning dinner with a group of friends. One friend suggests going to a new restaurant that has received good reviews. A couple more friends voice support for this idea. You don’t have a strong opinion, although typically you wouldn’t go out of your way to eat the cuisine at the new place. Instead of rocking the boat and suggesting an alternative, you go along with the plan to eat at the new place. The experience is fine, but you’ll never know if your friends might have enjoyed a different experience even better, had you suggested it. If you’ve ever experienced something like this, you have been in a situation where groupthink might be at play.
Groupthink is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when a group prioritizes consensus and harmony over critical thinking and independent judgment. In UX design, where collaboration is crucial, groupthink can stifle innovation, leading to suboptimal design choices that fail to meet user needs. To create truly user-centered designs, UX teams must be vigilant against groupthink and actively foster an environment that encourages diverse perspectives and independent thinking.
