From a post at Club Troppo called “Counteracting our biases”, which begins.
In an earlier post, and one of a series by me and subsequently Ken as well, I suggested that an important part of any professional education should be a kind of counter-narrative in which those who learn a profession are also made familiar with that profession’s cognitive biases, with a view to lessening them in practice.
The post then goes on to give a list of questions you should ask yourself about the provenance and quality of the information and reasoning behind (group) decisions. A handy list, IMHO.
“You two stay here and watch ‘im till I come back.”
“Got that?”
“Right, we go with you…”
This is a lot like the other limits of managerialism, like Systems Thinking. A body of study points out that attempts to manage and control complexity – and it’s all complexity! – are bound to fail and set-off numerous “unintended” consequences. The response by the managerial types is,
“Right, well here’s how we can use that to manage better!”
To mix a related Holly Grail metaphor into the mix, they built a castle….
We’re supposed to admire such single-minded perseverance!
“Right…”
I LOVE that scene from Holy Grail. I meet those people all the time…