Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 100 answers
Improvement without measurement — making changes without measuring their impact. The self-improvement cycle requires closed-loop feedback: sensing performance, making a change, and then sensing performance again to determine whether the change helped. Organizations that make continuous changes.
Individual epistemic investment without organizational infrastructure. Many organizations invest heavily in individual development — training programs, educational benefits, conference attendance — while neglecting organizational epistemic infrastructure. The result is well-educated individuals.
Scale-blind application — applying mechanisms from one scale directly to another without adapting them. A personal journal does not scale to a team (too private). A team retrospective does not scale to an organization (too many participants). An organizational knowledge management system does not.
Treating sovereignty as a final state rather than an ongoing practice. The word 'sovereignty' can imply a permanent achievement — once you have it, you have it forever. But epistemic sovereignty, at both individual and organizational levels, is a continuous practice that requires continuous.