What is schema quality criteria?

Schema quality criteria is a concept in personal epistemology: Define what makes a schema good — accuracy predictive power simplicity scope.

Example: You have two mental models for why your team misses deadlines. Model A: 'People are lazy.' Model B: 'The estimation process consistently underweights integration complexity.' Both explain the same data. But Model B is more accurate (it points to a specific, verifiable mechanism), more predictive (it tells you which tasks will slip before they do), more actionable (you can fix the estimation process), and more testable (you can check whether tasks with high integration complexity slip more often). Model A feels explanatory but produces no usable predictions and no path to improvement. You need criteria to tell the difference.

This concept is part of Phase 17 (Meta-Schemas) in the How to Think curriculum, which builds the epistemic infrastructure for meta-schemas.