The "Good Soldier Švejk" Strategy: Why You Should Propose Bad Ideas to Get Good Results

Every PM knows the "Silent Room." You present a blocker, ask "How do we solve this?", and suddenly everyone is fascinated by the carpet. It’s not that the team lacks the answers; it’s that offering a solution feels risky.

When you find yourself in that silence, here is a tactic you should try:

Channel your inner Good Soldier Švejk and propose a terrible solution on purpose.

In Jaroslav Hašek’s famous novel, Švejk survived by pretending to be obediently foolish, often suggesting absurdities that exposed the incompetence of his superiors. While you aren't trying to sabotage your project, you can use the same psychology:

People are much more eager to correct a mistake than they are to share a new idea.

When you ask for ideas, you create high cognitive load. But if you throw out a "Švejk-like" option—like hard-coding a demo or ignoring a major constraint—you give the team something safe to react against. The urge to fix your absurdity overrides their fear of speaking up.

Suddenly, the senior architect speaks up to explain why your proposal won't work. In doing so, they articulate the correct path forward. You’ve successfully shifted the room from "high-risk brainstorming" to "low-risk editing."

The key is framing. Don’t sell the bad idea; pitch it as a provocation. Say, "I'm going to throw a Švejk option on the table just to get us started..."

It might feel a little risky to play the fool for five seconds, but it’s the fastest way to get the team to solve the proble