Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 100 answers
In your next team meeting, conduct a 'collective cognition audit.' At the end of the meeting, ask the team three questions and record the answers: (1) 'What did we decide today, and who made each decision?' — if the team cannot clearly identify decisions and their makers, the collective thinking.
Select a recurring team process — a deployment, a sprint planning, a design review, or an incident response. Interview or survey three team members independently, asking each to describe: (1) the steps in the process, in order; (2) who is responsible for each step; (3) what triggers the process to.
Choose a domain where your team frequently disagrees or miscommunicates — an architectural decision, a process, a role boundary, or a planning approach. Ask each team member to independently create a visual representation of their understanding: a diagram, a flowchart, a list of steps, a decision.
Conduct a bias audit of your team's last three major decisions. For each decision, answer four questions: (1) Who spoke first, and did the final decision align with their position? (Anchoring test.) (2) Was any significant piece of information held by only one or two members? Did it surface during.
Assess your team's psychological safety using Edmondson's seven-item scale. Ask each team member to anonymously rate their agreement (1-5) with these statements: (1) If I make a mistake on this team, it is held against me. (2) Members of this team are able to bring up problems and tough issues..
Map your team's cognitive diversity profile. For each team member (including yourself), identify three dimensions: (1) Educational background — what disciplines did they study? (2) Professional path — what roles and industries have they worked in? (3) Problem-solving style — do they tend to start.
Build a transactive memory map for your team. Create a matrix with system components, processes, or knowledge domains as rows and team members as columns. For each cell, use a simple rating: E (expert — deep knowledge, can solve novel problems), K (knowledgeable — can handle routine issues), F.
Audit your team's last five significant decisions using this framework. For each decision, answer: (1) Was the decision-maker clearly identified before the discussion? (2) Was there a mechanism for independent input before group discussion? (3) Were decision criteria stated before options were.
At your next team retrospective, replace the standard 'What went well / What didn't / What should we change' format with a structured reflection protocol. Step 1 (5 minutes): Each team member independently writes answers to three questions — 'What surprised me?' 'What pattern am I seeing.
Assess your team's conflict profile using Jehn's three-type framework. For each type, rate your team on a 1-5 scale. (1) Task conflict — 'Team members regularly disagree about ideas, approaches, and technical decisions.' (2) Process conflict — 'Team members disagree about who should do what and.
Audit one recurring team meeting using these five metrics. (1) Preparation ratio — what percentage of attendees read pre-work before the meeting? (2) Voice distribution — how many unique people speak substantively? (3) Decision clarity — does the meeting end with clearly stated decisions and.
Identify one recurring synchronous meeting that could be partially or fully replaced by asynchronous collaboration. Design an async alternative using this template: (1) Document format — what information will be shared and in what structure? (2) Contribution protocol — who contributes, by when,.
Conduct a 'team memory audit.' List the ten most important pieces of knowledge your team holds — architectural decisions, operational procedures, customer context, historical lessons. For each item, answer three questions: (1) Where is this knowledge stored? (Specific location — not 'somewhere in.
Map one critical information flow in your team. Choose a type of information that matters — customer feedback, production alerts, requirement changes, or technical discoveries. Trace its path from origin to the person who acts on it. For each step, answer: (1) How does the information move from.
Track your team's attention allocation for one week. At the end of each day, have each team member spend two minutes recording how they spent their time across three categories: (1) Planned work — tasks aligned with the team's stated priorities. (2) Reactive work — tasks that were not planned but.
Map your team's cognitive load distribution. For each team member, estimate three dimensions on a 1-5 scale: (1) Task complexity — how cognitively demanding is their current work? (2) Context switching — how many different contexts do they manage simultaneously? (3) Interrupt load — how frequently.
Choose a term that your team uses frequently but may define differently — 'done,' 'ready for review,' 'production-ready,' 'priority,' 'tech debt,' or a domain-specific term. Ask each team member to independently write a one-paragraph definition. Collect the definitions and compare them. Identify.
Introduce one epistemic practice to your team this week. Choose the one most relevant to your team's current weakness: (1) If your team makes overconfident predictions, introduce calibrated confidence — have each member predict the outcome of the current sprint's riskiest item with a probability,.
Conduct a team cognitive audit using this ten-dimension framework. Rate each dimension 1-5 (1 = absent or broken, 3 = functional but inconsistent, 5 = well-designed and maintained). (1) Shared mental models — does the team have aligned understanding of the system, process, and goals? (2).
Assess your own epistemic contribution to your team using this self-audit. Rate yourself 1-5 on each dimension. (1) Do I calibrate my confidence — do I distinguish what I know from what I assume? (2) Do I surface assumptions — do I make my reasoning visible rather than presenting only my.
Identify one organizational schema that shapes your team's or organization's behavior. Start with a recurring pattern: a type of decision that always goes the same way, a type of initiative that always gets funded (or never does), a type of risk that always gets flagged (or ignored). Ask: 'What.
Identify one implicit schema in your organization by looking for a behavior that 'everyone just does' without being able to articulate why. Common examples: Who gets invited to which meetings? What information is shared broadly versus held tightly? Which types of initiatives get funded without.
Run a schema surfacing session with your team or leadership group. Choose one strategic question the organization is currently debating. Ask each participant to independently write answers to three prompts: (1) 'I believe the fundamental challenge we face is...' (2) 'I believe the right approach.
Write your organization's strategy as a single schema statement — not what the organization does, but what it believes about how it creates value. Use this format: 'We win by [doing X] for [audience Y] in a way that [differentiator Z].' Then ask two colleagues to write the same statement.