- Dreyfus Model
- Novice: Needs clear instructions, limited learning
- Advanced beginner: Self sufficient at small tasks, can't see big picture
- Competent: Have conceptual models, can ask meaningful questions and advice, can troubleshoot on their own
- Proficient: Needs big picture, can self-reflect and correct
- Expert: Looks for better ways to do things, works with intuition
- Typically, largest cohort is the advanced beginner cohort
- Rules elevate novice performance, degrade expert performance
- As you go from a novice to expert, intuition is used over rules. One starts to see what is important and what is not in the big picture. The role switches from being an observer to being a part of the system.
- Experts may not be the best teachers, as they go with intuition a lot and have a harder time relating to beginners. Competents are usually the best teachers as they know enough and still remember being a beginner.
- Context!
- One size does not fit all, novices need quick successes and rules, whereas experts need big picture and freedom.
- Memory is like a hologram, all the neurons have the whole thing but the resolution gets lowers as you use smaller number of neurons.
- Memory is like a dynamic RAM, it needs constant refreshing. And every read is also a write as in it changes the memory a little bit.
- Brain has a linear mode (L-mode) and a rich mode (R-mode), like the left-right brain model, except they are not concentrated on one side only.
- L-mode is responsible for linear thoughts, math, logic, verbal, etc. R-mode is more about creativity, intuition, etc.
- R-mode is unpredictable, so carry something with you to write down when you think of something valuable.
- Once you start keeping track like that, you will start to get more ideas.
- There is a lot if value in R-mode that we do not use. It is important to find ways to uncover it.
- Try odd or uncomfortable ideas to stimulate R-mode.
- Try different sensory experiences to stimulate it.
- Write, drwa, explain, talk, act out
- Lead with R-mode, then follow with L-mode to flesh the idea out.
- Make shitty first drafts, fast!
- Pair programming works because explaining invokes R-mode.
- Bisociation, forming a relationship between unrelated ideas invokes R-mode.
- Make metaphors!
- Morning papers, write a few pages when you wake up while R-mode is still in control.
- Go for a walk, not in the office, and defocus from the task at hand.
- Turn the problem around, try to break it or make it worse to get a fresh insight.
- Imagine yourself as one of the components of the system you are working on, what would you do, how would you behave.
- Think of your cognitive biases
- It is OK to leave solving the big problems of a project to the end because that is when you will know the best.
- The time you grew up and where you are in your career shapes you, recognize your biases based on that and seek diversity in your team
- Technology makes the effect of the lizard brain taking over bigger so resist acting on your lizard brain, remember to breathe
- Intuition is powerful, but it is open to bias. Make sure to test it with L-mode
- Learning is a DIY job, others can't do it to you.
- Create SMART goals/objectives
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Relevant
- Time-boxed
- Take care of your knowledge portfolio as well as your financial one
- Make a Pragmatic Investment Plan (PIP, the good version)
- Have a concrete plan
- What is next
- What is in 1 year
- What is in 5 years
- Diversify
- Have both high risk-high reward and low risk-low reward goals
- Even if a high risk goal does not pan out, it changes your thinking and enriches your R-brain
- Active: Use feedback to measure your progress and modify your goals based on that over time
- Consistency: Make a regular investment and plan before sitting down to work on it to use you time wisely
- Have a concrete plan
- Learning modes: Auditory, Visual, Kinesthetic
- Every once in a while try something different than what you normally fo for learning
- Read with SQ3R
- Survey the TOC and chapter summaries
- Take note of any questions you want answered or information you want to get out
- Read, recite (summarize, take note), review (discuss)
- You remember and learn not by reading, but by testing your knowledge. Try to do something with it that will require you to recall it.
- Hand writing gives you a ritual and an inward focus of attention. Try it even if you will never review your notes. Better yet, transcribe your notes digitally later to reinfroce the learning.
- Teach it, explain it, screencast it, record it, give a talk, write an article
- Play before studying the facts.
- Build to learn, don't learn to build.
- Fail safely and deliberately.
- Meditate, even if it is a few minutes here and there. Focus on your breath and let the distractions float away as they come.
- Defocusing to let your thought marinate is OK.
- Rule of 3, you haven't thought enough if you haven't found 3 solutions or 3 failure modes.
- Manage your desktops, make one for communication and keep it in the background to avoid constant distraction.
- Always consider context.
- Use rules for novices, intuition for experts.
- Know what you don't know.
- Learn by watching and imitating.
- Keep practicing in order to remain an expert.
- Avoid formal methods if you need creativity, intuition, or inventiveness.
- Learn the skill of learning.
- Capture all ideas to get more of them.
- Learn by synthesis as well as by analysis.
- Strive for good design; it really works better.
- Rewire your brain with belief and constant practice.
- Add sensory experience to engage more of your brain.
- Lead wtih R-mode; follow with L-mode.
- Use metaphor as the meeting place between L-mode and R-mode.
- Cultivate humor to build stronger metaphors.
- Step away from the keyboard to solve hard problems.
- Change your viewpoint to solve the problem.
- Watch the outliers: "rarely" doesn"t mean "never".
- Be comfortable with uncertainty.
- Trust ink over memory; every mental read is a write.
- Hedge your bets with diversity.
- Allow for different bugs for different people.
- Act like you've evolved: breathe, don't hiss.
- Trust intuition, but verify.
- Create SMART objectives to reach your goals.
- Plan your investment in learning deliberately.
- Discover how you learn best.
- Form study groups to learn and teach.
- Read deliberately.
- Take notes with both R-mode and L-mode.
- Write on: documenting is more important than documentation.
- See it. Do it. Teach it.
- Play more in order to learn more.
- Learn from similarities; unlearn from differences.
- Explore, invent, and apply in your environment - safely.
- See without judging and then act.
- Give yourself permission to fail; it's the path to success.
- Groove your mind to success.
- Learn to pay attention.
- Make thinking time.
- Use a wiki to manage information and knowledge.
- Establish rules of engagement to manage interrputions.
- Send less email, and you'll receive less email.
- Choose your own tempo for an email conversation.
- Mask interrupts to maintain focus.
- Use multiple monitors to avoid context switching.
- Optimize your personal workflow to maximize context.
- Grab the wheel. You can't steer on autopilot.