Believing in some far-fetched (or indeed any) explanation without having any proof is dangerous. It is dangerous in the case of the flat-earthers and it is dangerous for project leaders and team members.
Whenever a theory emerges why something works (or doesn’t) in your project/company, it is your duty to either prove it right or wrong.
Oh, and by the way: yes, it is indeed true that there are still people who believe the earth is flat!
I agree. The Poppendiecks talks about wishful thinking as one of the wastes.
However, finding out the fact requires work. So many times people think it saves time to just use their own assumptions instead (assumptions which they themselves feel is the truth or very close to it). However, often the assumptions are wrong and this can have disastrous consequences.
You hit the nail Jan. “many times it saves time to use their own assumptions instead”. This is what people tend to call “common sense”, but in fact, as Taiichi Ohno said, “Common sense is not common at all”.
Common sense may be the worst enemy of improvement in today’s business world.
If you have read “the halo effect” you know what I’m talking about…