Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 4568 answers
Pick a decision you've recently made or a design you've recently shipped. Write down your perspective in two sentences. Then ask three people with different roles, experiences, or stakes to describe what they see. Write each perspective on a separate card. Compare them side by side and mark.
Collecting perspectives performatively — asking for input you've already decided to ignore. If you seek other viewpoints only to confirm what you already believe, you're running confirmation bias with extra steps. The test: did any perspective you collected actually change something about your.
Seeking other viewpoints shows you what your single perspective cannot.
Strong feelings about an observation usually mean it touches something important.
Strong feelings about an observation usually mean it touches something important.
Strong feelings about an observation usually mean it touches something important.
Taking more time to look reveals details that quick glances miss.
Taking more time to look reveals details that quick glances miss.
Taking more time to look reveals details that quick glances miss.
Taking more time to look reveals details that quick glances miss.
Taking more time to look reveals details that quick glances miss.
Choose one thing you interact with daily — a dashboard you check, a codebase you maintain, a meeting you attend. Tomorrow, spend five minutes observing it in silence before forming any opinion or taking any action. Set a timer. No notes, no conclusions, just looking. Afterward, write down three.
Confusing slow observation with passive observation. You spend twenty minutes staring at something but your mind is elsewhere — planning dinner, rehearsing a conversation, checking the clock. Slow looking requires active, engaged attention directed at the object of observation, not merely the.
Taking more time to look reveals details that quick glances miss.
Write down what you observed before writing what you think it means.
Write down what you observed before writing what you think it means.
Write down what you observed before writing what you think it means.
Write down what you observed before writing what you think it means.
Choose one event from today — a conversation, a meeting, something you read. Open a blank page and draw a vertical line down the middle. Label the left column 'I observed' and the right column 'I interpreted.' Fill the left column first, writing only sensory-level facts: what was said, what.
Believing you're recording observations when you're actually recording conclusions wearing observational clothing. 'He was defensive' feels like an observation but it's an interpretation of specific behaviors (crossed arms, raised voice, deflection) that you skipped recording. The test: could a.
Write down what you observed before writing what you think it means.
Evaluation has its place — after you have thoroughly observed.
Evaluation has its place — after you have thoroughly observed.
Evaluation has its place — after you have thoroughly observed.