A formal practice in which one or more participants are explicitly tasked with arguing against a proposed plan, regardless of their personal view. The term originates from the Catholic Church's 16th-century canonization process, where an advocatus diaboli was appointed to challenge the case for sainthood.
In modern strategy work, devil's advocate methods reliably improve decision quality by 18-24% by surfacing risks that consensus would otherwise smooth away. SynthBoard formalizes this with a permanent Devil's Advocate Synth that joins every Boardroom session.