Thomas on Farcaster

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https://warpcast.com/~/channel/thomas

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@aviationdoctor.eth

Velocity in action and decision making is highly valued these days (Agile methodology, Zuckerberg’s motto “move fast and break things”, etc.). Yet what struck me the most working with a former boss and mentor of mine was how he kept postponing dealing with potential issues in a non-procrastinating way. He would often say things Iike “let’s wait and see”, “we’ll cross that bridge when we get there”, etc. Now that I’m in his shoes / his role, I’ve come to appreciate the value of Falkland’s law: unless you *must* make a decision, don’t make one. Prioritize patience and information gathering over making unnecessary decisions. Not only does it keep your options open for later, it also avoids you having to change your mind and confuse people with new directions. But more notably, I’ve often noticed that problems I was anticipating just… vanished before they could even materialize. The environment, priorities, resources available, constraints, etc had changed enough in the meantime.

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Luigi Stranieri

@luigistranieri

I completely agree. Let me add that I think there is a strong tendency in modern decision-making that does not take into account the objective responsibilities of people who should instead have a more conservative approach to them. As you rightly said, often, long before the problem becomes concrete, other events are added to the solution. Rushing to decide, without thinking about the consequences in the event of an error, or even worse, without making corrections is wrong and reckless.

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I liked how Bilahari Kausikan put it in his speech at UWCSEA about foreign policy https://dinesh.eth.limo/notes/bilahari-2022-12-15/#t-00-07-35

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Timber ☀️ pfp

Was this in the aviation industry?

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Rex Pepple pfp

Woah this is a lengthy one 🫠

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til about falkland's law, but i've always preferred to "outsource to my future self". because, as you said, sometimes the problems would solve themselves. and even if they didn't, my future self would (presumably) be wiser and better qualified to handle them.

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Cameron Armstrong

In the military we often call this “developing the situation” (some people differ on the definition tho) Learn more, get a better picture of what’s happening, but don’t overcommit and constrain your decision set too early is the general idea

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Dracklyn pfp

Profound cast. One of my favorite quotes is "Time is the wisest." This approach to decision-making is goated, but be careful, you risk being seen as indecisive and a slacker by a lot of people who don't get it.

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Ed O'Shaughnessy

I've always been a fan of the "last responsible moment" for making decisions. Although, in my work in large enterprises I was regularly frustrated by ppl wasting so much time trying to decide that the moment had long passed https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/software-architects-handbook/9781788624060/a844b94f-be9e-456d-8ef0-cd9b46b41c33.xhtml

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are you familiar with The Last Responsible Moment? “delay commitment until the last responsible moment, that is, the moment at which failing to make a decision eliminates an important alternative” https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-last-responsible-moment/

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Luna✨🐈 pfp

I love the 'unless you *must* make a decision don’t make one'

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