A handy journalist technique whereby you write in such a way that even a cursory glance at an article gives the key facts, and the further you read down you increase your knowledge with the next most important facts. As opposed to say, a chronological account of an event where the important stuff may be at the end. The BBC at least are great examples of this, for instance in a Premier League match write-up. Given how people read on the web generally, it’s pretty good to keep in mind for anything you write on the web too. Also see: the best writing is rewriting, front load names to cue attention…A handy journalist technique whereby you write in such a way that even a cursory glance at an article gives the key facts, and the further you read down you increase your knowledge with the next most important facts. As opposed to say, a chronological account of an event where the important stuff may be at the end. The BBC at least are great examples of this, for instance in a Premier League match write-up. Given how people read on the web generally, it’s pretty good to keep in mind for anything you write on the web too. Also see: the best writing is rewriting, front load names to cue attentionWWW…
That annoying feeling after you’ve bought something where you’re just not sure if you did the right thing. Darn it.…That annoying feeling after you’ve bought something where you’re just not sure if you did the right thing. Darn it.WWW…
Goodhart's law states that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. In other words, if you pick a measure to assess performance, people find a way to game it. To illustrate, I like the (probably apocryphal) story of a nail factory that sets "Number of nails produced" as their measure of productivity and the workers figure out they can make tons of tiny nails to hit the target easily. Yet, when the frustrated managers switch the assessment to "weight of nails made", the workers again outfox them by making a few giant heavy nails. And there's the story of trying to measure fitness by steps from a pedometer only to find the pedometer gets attached to the dog. Some strategies for helping this are to try and find better, harder-to-game measures, assess with multiple measures, or allow a little discretion. More detail in this nice little article. I also liked an idea I read in Measure What Matters of pairing a quantity measure with a quality measure, for example, assessing both the number of nails and customer satisfaction of the nails. How strongly Goodhart's Law applies varies. John Cutler shared the Cutler Variation of Goodhart's Law: "In environments with high psychological safety, trust, and an appreciation for complex sociotechnical systems, when a measure becomes a target, it can remain a good measure because missing the target is treated as a valuable signal for continuous improvement rather than failure." Also see: Campbell's Law I revised the illustration. Here is the original…Goodhart's law states that when a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure. In other words, if you pick a measure to assess performance, people find a way to game it. To illustrate, I like the (probably apocryphal) story of a nail factory that sets "Number of nails produced" as their measure of productivity and the workers figure out they can make tons of tiny nails to hit the target easily. Yet, when the frustrated managers switch the assessment to "weight of nails made", the workers again outfox them by making a few giant heavy nails. And there's the story of trying to measure fitness by steps from a pedometer only to find the pedometer gets attached to the dog. Some strategies for helping this are to try and find better, harder-to-game measures, assess with multiple measures, or allow a little discretion. More detail in this nice little article. I also liked an idea I read in Measure What Matters of pairing a quantity measure with a quality measure, for example, assessing both the number of nails and customer satisfaction of the nails. How strongly Goodhart's Law applies varies. John Cutler shared the Cutler Variation of Goodhart's Law: "In environments with high psychological safety, trust, and an appreciation for complex sociotechnical systems, when a measure becomes a target, it can remain a good measure because missing the target is treated as a valuable signal for continuous improvement rather than failure." Also see: Campbell's Law I revised the illustration. Here is the originalWWW…
What’s the difference? OK, this is not rocket science, but I remember growing up it took me a while to not be calling them interchangeably. There are so many neat hybrid ways to get on the water now that nothing is cut and dry, but if they look like what’s in the picture then you can be pretty confident you’ll be getting it right.…What’s the difference? OK, this is not rocket science, but I remember growing up it took me a while to not be calling them interchangeably. There are so many neat hybrid ways to get on the water now that nothing is cut and dry, but if they look like what’s in the picture then you can be pretty confident you’ll be getting it right.WWW…
There are just two countries that are double-landlocked: Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan. Their unusual claim to fame is that not only are they landlocked with no access to the high seas themselves, but they are also surrounded by countries that are themselves landlocked. Another way to put it is that you have to cross two national boundaries before you can reach water connected to the oceans. Growing up on the island of Great Britain I somewhat took for granted that with a few hours in most directions and I’d be looking out onto the sea. But that’s not at all the case if you were born in a landlocked country.…There are just two countries that are double-landlocked: Liechtenstein and Uzbekistan. Their unusual claim to fame is that not only are they landlocked with no access to the high seas themselves, but they are also surrounded by countries that are themselves landlocked. Another way to put it is that you have to cross two national boundaries before you can reach water connected to the oceans. Growing up on the island of Great Britain I somewhat took for granted that with a few hours in most directions and I’d be looking out onto the sea. But that’s not at all the case if you were born in a landlocked country.WWW…
The singularity effect is the name for how we care disproportionately about an individual as compared to a group. Think Saving Private Ryan, where an enormous effort is launched to save a single soldier in the Second World War. It turns out that even as you add a second person, there’s some justification for something known as compassion fade. The addition of more people doesn’t increase our willingness to help proportionally — our compassion fades as more people are involved. See the work of Paul Slovic. Also see: Psychic numbing…The singularity effect is the name for how we care disproportionately about an individual as compared to a group. Think Saving Private Ryan, where an enormous effort is launched to save a single soldier in the Second World War. It turns out that even as you add a second person, there’s some justification for something known as compassion fade. The addition of more people doesn’t increase our willingness to help proportionally — our compassion fades as more people are involved. See the work of Paul Slovic. Also see: Psychic numbingWWW…
