Decision Making Principle 6: Right to Dissent (Before Commitment)
Recorded challenge welcomed before bind — aimed at published assumptions and options
Principle
Dissent before commitment is an asset, not a career hazard — recorded in the (A)DR against published assumptions and options, not hallway rumour.
Decision Making Principle 6 guarantees right to dissent before commitment. Groupthink and unspoken risk produce predictable surprises; dissent must target published assumptions and options (principle 4), not rumour.
What it requires
- Dissent recorded in the (A)DR — who challenged, grounds, what remained unresolved at bind
- Pre-bind challenge at the commitment boundary — not punished for good-faith disagreement
- Unresolved dissent at bind is not failure; unmonitored dissent is
Tension with principle 7
Principles 6 and 7 sit in tension with contestability by design: dissent welcomed before, execute and support after — until qualified evidence warrants supersession.