The Human Mind Continued

Question 1

Attribution error

Answer 1

The fallacy of blaming others’ characters when they screw up, but blaming externalities when we screw up.

Give people the benefit of the doubt unless a particular behaviour clearly becomes a pattern.

Question 2

Management

Answer 2

Is the act of coordinating a group of people to achieve a certain goal while accounting for uncertainty and change.

Question 3

6 principles of effective management (1):

Answer 3

1) Small elite teams are best.
2) Clearly communicate the end result, who is responsible for what, and the current status.
3) Everyone should know commander’s intent, the reason why it’s important, and know the specific parts they are responsible for

Question 4

6 principles of effective management (2):

Answer 4

4) Treat people with respect. (Golden trifecta: appreciation, courtesy, and respect). Make people feel important. Working together under a mutually supportive environment fosters clanning.
5) Create an environment for productivity. Provide the best equipment and tools to reinforce the work people are doing. Shield your team from distractions (like bureaucracy and meetings)

Question 5

6 principles of effective management (3):

Answer 5

6) Refrain from having unrealistic expectations regarding certainty and prediction.
7) Update the plan as you go along. Reapply Parkinson’s law to find the shortest feasible path to completion that works, given the necessary trade-offs required by the work.

Question 6

6 principles of effective management (4):

Answer 6

8) Measure progress and compare. If what you’re doing is not working, consider a different approach and run an experiment.
9) A primary fallacy of effective management is that the initial plan is perfect and should be followed to the letter. Wrong. Allow room for learning and iteration throughout the process.

Question 7

6 principles of effective management (5):

Answer 7

10) Effective management plans for learning, requiring constant readjustments along the way.
11) Measure performance across KPIs

Question 8

Management (6)

Answer 8

1) Management should be thought of as a support team for the core value producing workers, not as the “decision-making team”.
2) “Try to get everyone to have a gigantic brain in their area and you provide a minimum amount of admin support to see them humming along”(Silicon Valley philosophy).

Question 9

Performance-Based Hiring

Answer 9

The best hires are people who get things done and work well with other members of your team.

The golden rule of hiring: the best prediction of future behavior is past performance

If you look for past performance and evaluate a candidates work firsthand, you’ll make much better hires