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I will do further research on the Delph Technique and report on my findings during the day.

I do think this potent tool originally designed to predict future trends has been Shanghaied to the ends outlined in the manner outlined.

IMHO, the DELPHI technique is best used via email with a carefully objective and even-handed management of the process to insure complete freedom of participants and their objectivity or opinions as THE PARTICIPANTS feel fitting.

The group process mode is a travesty and a gross manipulation, IMHO.

In the email or snail mail mode, there are several iterations of collecting opinions anonymously from a range of experts to common people on a topic. The comments are then distributed to all the participants anonymously. One doesn't know who's opinions are "expert" and who's aren't. Then the participants are asked to make comments on the comments. This sort of iteration may go for 3-5 sequences though 3-4 are probably most common--or were last I read much about it.

It turns out that when the group of participants are well chosen--that it's a robust group with a great deal of diversity--including experts in the field as well as a cross section of the population--the product resulting is one of the most accurately predictive kinds of documents that can be arrived at. And, the technique's best use has been just that--predicting TRENDS in society. Any kind of trend seems to be fair game in about any sort of discipline or area of life public or private.

The face to face group process use of the technique is irresponsible, immoral, unprofessional, unethical, horrid and but a sample of the kind of tyranny Shrillery, Boxerface et al are eager to weight us all down with.

I personally don't even feel it deserves to be called the DELPHI technique.

The DC Chapter has seen this and can stand up to it. Anyone is invited to attend and learn the ways to fight this crap.

Laz - did a search for Delphi Technique because I am becoming increasingly aware of it recently. I know this is an old thread but worth bringing up again. This is going on in Government, business, school, and churches too. It's EVERYWHERE. The problem I have with countering it is remaining 'full of grace and charm' - it's too easy to get distracted and forget that your question wasn't asked. And with the rest of the crowd half asleep, when you say "I'm sorry, but you didn't answer my question, my question was..." they don't even notice what's going on.

ping old thread...

Always a good post, no matter how many times it appears here. Thanks Laz.
As such, I'd also like to add some info on how to defeat being Delphi'ed.

Lynn Stuter is an education researcher and activist in Washington state. Here's her take on undermining Delphi:

DISRUPTING THE DELPHI
By Lynn M. Stuter

Note: The Delphi is being used at all levels of government to move meetings to preset conclusions. For the purposes of this dissertation, "facilitator" references anyone who has been trained in use of the Delphi and who is running a meeting.

There are three steps to diffusing the Delphi Technique when facilitators want to seer a group in a specific direction.

1. Always be charming. Smile. Be pleasant. Be Courteous. Moderate your voice so as not to come across as belligerent or aggressive.

2. Stay focused. If at all possible, write your question down to help, you stay focused. Facilitators, when asked questions they dent want to answer, often digress from the issue raised and try to work the conversation around to where they can make the individual asking the question look foolish. Feel foolish. Appear belligerent or aggressive. The goal is to put the one asking the question on the defensive. Do not fall for this tactic. Always be charming, thus deflecting any insinuation. Innuendo, etc. that may be thrown at you in their attempt to put you on the defensive, but bring them back to the question you asked. If they rephrase your question into an accusatory statement (a favorite tactic) simply state, "That is not what I stated. What I asked was... [Repeat your question.]" Stay focused on your question.

3. Be persistent. If putting you on the defensive doesn't work, facilitators often resort to long, drawn out dissertations on some off-the-wall and usually unrelated or vaguely related subject that drags on for several minutes. During that time, the crowd or group usually loses focus on the question asked (which is the intent). Let them finish with their dissertation or expose. Then nicely with focus and persistence, state, "But you didn't answer my question. My question was...[repeat your question.]"

Always be charming, stay focused and be persistent. Never, under any circumstance, become angry. Anger directed at the facilitator will immediately make the facilitator the victim. This defeats the purpose, which is to make you the victim. The goal of the facilitator is to make those they are facilitating like them, alienating anyone who might pose a threat to the realization of their agenda. [People with fixed belief systems, who know what they believe and stand on what they believe, are obvious threats.] If the participant becomes the victim, the facilitator loses face and favor with the crowd. This is why crowds are broken up into groups of seven or eight, why objections are written on cards, not voiced aloud where they are open to public discussion and public debate. It s called crowd control. It is always good to have someone else, or two or three others who know the Delphi Technique dispersed through the crowd; who, when the facilitator digresses from the question, will stand up and say nicely, "But you didn't answer that lady (/gentleman)'s question The facilitator, even if suspecting you are together, certainly will not want to alienate the crowd by making that accusation. Sometimes it only takes one occurrence of this type for the crowd to figure out what s going on. Sometimes it takes more than one.

If you have an organized group, meet before the meeting to strategize. Everyone should know his or her part. Meet after the meeting to analyze what went right, what went wrong and why, and what needs to happen the next time around. Never meet during the meeting. One of the favorite tactics of the facilitator if the meeting is not going the way they want, if they are meeting measurable resistance, is to call a recess. During the recess, the facilitator and his/her spotters (people who wander the room during the course of the meeting, watching the crowd) watch the crowd to see who congregates where, especially those who have offered measurable resistance. If the resistors congregate in one place, a spotter will usually gravitate to that group to join in the conversation and will report back to the facilitator. When the meeting resumes, the facilitator will steer clear of those who are resistors. Do not congregate. Hang loose, and work the crowd. Move to where the facilitators or spotters are. Listen to what they have to say, but do not gravitate to where another member of your team is. This strategy also works in a face to face, one on one, meeting with anyone who has been trained in how to use the Delphi Technique.