When “UP” Meets Star Wars
Month: March 2012
There’s something different about smart people
There’s something different about smart people
Tommy MacWilliam:
Not only do smart people ask questions when they don’t understand something, but they also ask questions when the world thinks it understands something. Smart people challenge the very limit of human understanding, and push the envelope of what’s possible farther than many people would argue it’s meant to be pushed. Smart people don’t take claims at face value, and smart people don’t rest until they find an explanation they’re comfortable accepting and understanding.
Smart people are comfortable with the idea that they still have something to learn.
Free markets tend towards the complex
Free markets tend towards the complex
Scott Adams:
The free market favors complication over simplicity, because confusopolies are profitable. So the market isn’t likely to simplify anything on its own.
However, simplicity is also valuable, and people will pay a premium to companies that simplify the complex.
Gather up the good brains
Joel Spolsky:
You don’t build a startup with one big gigantic brain on the top, and a bunch of lesser brains obeying orders down below. You try to get everyone to have a gigantic brain in their area, and you provide a minimum amount of administrative support to keep them humming along.
Spolsky’s view of management is that it is more effective when it acts like support staff than like a general.
Rules are no substitute for judgement
Rules are no substitute for judgement
E.B. White on Rules.
[T]hat rules are excellent organizational tools and efficient reducers of cognitive load, but they are no substitute for contextual sensitivity and personal judgement.