Frequently asked questions about thinking, epistemology, and cognitive tools. 1675 answers
Reviewing key conditions before starting a task catches errors before they propagate.
Reviewing key conditions before starting a task catches errors before they propagate.
Reviewing what happened after completing a task surfaces errors for future correction.
Reviewing what happened after completing a task surfaces errors for future correction.
Small uncorrected errors can trigger chains of increasingly large errors.
Small uncorrected errors can trigger chains of increasingly large errors.
Small uncorrected errors can trigger chains of increasingly large errors.
Small uncorrected errors can trigger chains of increasingly large errors.
Pick one decision you made in the past month that led to further downstream decisions — a commitment, a purchase, a delegation, a plan. Trace the chain forward: what subsequent actions depended on that initial choice? Now ask one question about the original decision: what assumption did it rest.
Treating error cascades as a problem of scale rather than a problem of coupling. People assume that small errors stay small — that a minor miscalculation will produce a minor consequence. This confuses the size of the initial error with the size of the downstream effect. What determines cascade.
Small uncorrected errors can trigger chains of increasingly large errors.
Design your systems to fail partially rather than completely.
Design your systems to fail partially rather than completely.
Design your systems to fail partially rather than completely.
Design your systems to fail partially rather than completely.
Design your systems to fail partially rather than completely.
For every important process have a documented way to recover from common failures.
Focusing on who caused an error prevents understanding why it happened.
Focusing on who caused an error prevents understanding why it happened.
Focusing on who caused an error prevents understanding why it happened.
Focusing on who caused an error prevents understanding why it happened.
Focusing on who caused an error prevents understanding why it happened.
Recall the last error, failure, or missed expectation you were involved in — at work, in a personal project, or a habit that broke down. Write two columns on a page. In the left column, write the 'who' story: who was responsible, what they should have done differently, why they failed. In the.
Concluding that 'blameless' means 'accountable to no one.' The point is not to eliminate accountability. It is to redirect it. In a blame culture, accountability means identifying the person who failed and punishing them. In a learning culture, accountability means identifying the systemic.