Define: "Strawman Proposal" in Business
Multi-headcount capital waste
"Intentionally include a glaringly obvious minor mistake in the first paragraph. They will hyper-focus on fixing it and leave the rest of your design alone."
A provisional draft or outline created specifically to generate discussion, feedback, and iterative improvement.
What does "Strawman Proposal" actually mean?
"The soul-crushing exercise of building a preliminary architecture document knowing the C-suiteThe C-SuiteThe people who approve a $5M cloud migration but deny your request for a $50 keyboard. only requested it so they have something to tear apart."
"Let's put together a strawman proposal for the new hybrid work policy and see how the team reacts."
"I spent all weekend writing the strawman proposal for the new network topology just so the VP could cross it all out in red pen."
By The Chief Waste Officer
18 years in the corporate trenches quantifying waste so you don't have to.
Related Terminology
Tired of hearing this?
Next time someone says "Strawman Proposal" in a meeting, track exactly how much company money they just wasted. Play Buzzword Bingo, generate a waste invoice, and stop the bleeding.
