"You've got to keep making decisions, even if they're wrong decisions. If you don't make decisions you're stuffed"
- Joe Simpson, (Touching the Void)
Making a good decision quickly is often better than any other option -- waiting too long may make all options worse.
Make decisions based on clear goals, and attempt to record the reason for making a decision at the time of decisionmaking
Always consider opportunity cost.
Always take individual incentives into account.
Be open-minded, give ample room to disprove your preconceptions.
Take into account your cognitive biases when you can, and reduce them as much as possible
- loss aversion
- sunk cost
- inclination to maintain status quo
- avoiding ambiguous options
- tendency to do things based on many others doing the same
Consider others' feelings, and how their feelings will affect you and others.
Do not assume optimal future behavior of participants, especially yourself.
- do not overcommit your future time.
Do not assume poor future behavior of participants, especially yourself
- especially when depressed, it is easy to be pessimistic about your future behavior
Do not seek information when it will not affect action
Avoid over-relying on familiar tools and methods
- consider and value alternate approaches
- "If all you have is a hammer..."
Avoid overconfidence
Just because someone is in conflict with you doesn't mean their idea isn't good
Do not give disproportionate weight to trivial issues:
- "bikeshedding"
Orient towards reality
- establish a baseline understand of reality before moving toward solutions
Learn, THEN decide.
- am I done learning?
- have I learned enough to make a decision?
Consider postponing decisions until the last possible moment
- at which point you will have the most information with which to make the decision
Consider doing the simplest thing that could possibly work
When encountering hard problems, dissolve them into smaller pieces and identify the success criteria, immediately, before trying to generate solutions.
"You've got to keep making decisions, even if they're wrong decisions. If you don't make decisions you're stuffed" - Joe Simpson, (Touching the Void)
Making a good decision quickly is often better than any other option -- waiting too long may make all options worse.
Make decisions based on clear goals, and attempt to record the reason for making a decision at the time of decisionmaking
Always consider opportunity cost.
Always take individual incentives into account.
Be open-minded, give ample room to disprove your preconceptions.
Take into account your cognitive biases when you can, and reduce them as much as possible - loss aversion - sunk cost - inclination to maintain status quo - avoiding ambiguous options - tendency to do things based on many others doing the same
Consider others' feelings, and how their feelings will affect you and others.
Do not assume optimal future behavior of participants, especially yourself. - do not overcommit your future time.
Do not assume poor future behavior of participants, especially yourself - especially when depressed, it is easy to be pessimistic about your future behavior
Do not seek information when it will not affect action
Avoid over-relying on familiar tools and methods - consider and value alternate approaches - "If all you have is a hammer..."
Avoid overconfidence
Just because someone is in conflict with you doesn't mean their idea isn't good
Do not give disproportionate weight to trivial issues: - "bikeshedding"
Orient towards reality - establish a baseline understand of reality before moving toward solutions
Learn, THEN decide. - am I done learning? - have I learned enough to make a decision?
Consider postponing decisions until the last possible moment - at which point you will have the most information with which to make the decision
Consider doing the simplest thing that could possibly work
When encountering hard problems, dissolve them into smaller pieces and identify the success criteria, immediately, before trying to generate solutions.