Each of us human individuals have our own brains to make decisions best for our body and soul. So when a group of humans want to reach to a single decision applicable for all - its naturally not as efficient as a hive mind insectoid queen doing the same for its insect junta.
This is why we humans have devised artificial mechanisms to make decision making efficient. The most prominent tool being ‘Hierarchies’ - one person has the final call. Sorted.
But things get murky when the groups are unorganised - nobody knows who’s gonna make the final call.
This is a good product problem to explore - as most of the purchases today happen where unorganised groups are trying to reach a common decision.
Example: Friends trying to decide a place for lunch, Husband and wife planning a vacation, Families purchasing a new house, Parents and children deciding which college to opt for.
So, how can we help these groups make decisions more efficiently? Over the years we have implemented solutions like Product Reviews, Testimonials, Referrals, and so on - but are these solutions thought off from the perspectives that ultimately groups are making decisions and not individuals? What I mean is that a same review might mean 3 different things to 3 different people - the result is the group getting stalled with decision making.
On contrary, consider an old fashioned feature, a waiter taking an order at a restaurant, in this case the waiter being a human can act more subjective by listening to the group as a whole and then suggesting something common for their taste.
The question now is, do we always need a human in loop to solve group decision making, or with the advent of new technologies, can we solve this at a bigger scale?