Critical Thinking - Edition 174 by Rob Lambert
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A Cultivated Life Newsletter
Hi,
I hope you are doing safe and well. It feels a little unimportant pulling this newsletter together with what’s going on in the world right now, so I’ll keep it short today.
I remember visiting the Ukraine in 1994 and it was the most amazing trip I’ve ever been on. Super friendly people and a whole host of history to enjoy. My thoughts are with those in the mix right now.
Critical Thinking
A core skill sorely missing from the world of work is critical thinking. It’s a core skill I’m teaching my boys also, as they do their school “research” via the internet now. It’s always been an important skill but when your research is done online - it’s become essential.
Critically thinking about information, communication, concepts, methods etc can help you gain clarity, truth and understanding. And as the stoics would say - nobody was hurt by the truth.
I prize two core skills when recruiting for my teams: critical thinking and good communication skills. After all, have you ever met a critical thinker who isn’t a good communicator? Painfully difficult and annoying to work with.
Critical thinking is annoying. But it’s annoying in a “good for business” kind of way. Especially when it is aimed at improving the work and not just bringing people down or being negative. Negativity and critical thinking are not the same thing.
Critical thinking is a powerful way to cut through the use of absolutes - which I teach people to use sparingly (such as Always, Constantly, NEVER etc) .
There are a few core questions I teach people (and my kids) when it comes to critical thinking. And yes, I'm not doing this vast subject justice with this simplification.
Here are the questions :
1. What problem are we trying to solve? (link to a video I did on this, whilst searching for deer to photograph)
2. Is that statement / concept always right / correct / true?
3. Is there a case of the opposite being right / correct / true?
4. If it is ALWAYS right / correct / true, then the opposite must therefore be wrong / incorrect / fake / false?
Let’s look at a contrived, simple example.
I remember a few years back a software developer getting very irate if anyone sat down during a stand-up. He said the stand-up was called a stand-up for the very reason that everyone MUST ALWAYS stand up.
Let’s look at this a little more.
Firstly, what is the purpose of the stand-up? What problem is a stand-up trying to solve?
I presume someone figured that if people stood up, they would get tired and hence the meeting would be shorter, sharper and to the point. It would focus people to be effective in the meeting. A solid problem to solve.
If we think critically about this though we can already ascertain one obvious critical fact. I for one have seen many stand-ups (in which people are indeed stood up in the office) take AGES and be a complete waste of time. Literally, one team would hold one-hour stand-ups.
So, right away we know that just by standing up doesn’t address the main problem of rubbish meetings.
Equally, I’ve seen sit-down meetings be very effective and efficient - especially when I run them (link to a post I did on running good meetings).
So, if stand-ups really are the ONLY way to be effective and they do indeed require people to stand up, then the opposite must mean that all sit down meetings are long and boring. Many are, but they don’t have to be. Are there examples of a well-run sit-down meeting? Yes, of course.
And now, in remote times, almost all my stand-ups are spent with me sat on my backside in a chair. It’s still a stand-up meeting aimed at being an effective form of communication, but I’m sat down.
It doesn’t take long to deconstruct absolutes, fake information and loose statements using basic critical questioning.
We can apply these sorts of questions to think critically about anything at all.
What problem are we trying to solve? Is this statement always correct? If yes, then are there times when it wasn’t? And is the opposite always false?
I’ve heard people tell me that ALL agile teams are better than “non-agile” (whatever that means) teams. Not true. I can find countless teams doing things differently and achieving success. I can find teams doing “agile” and failing.
I’ve had people tell me that “Bob” is ALWAYS late. Not true. I found many times when Bob started early or finished late, and he was most certainly not ALWAYS late. Therefore I focus on studying what people do - not what others tell me.
I’ve had people tell me the software DOESN’T work when they find a bug in it. It does work but they have found a bug, but it doesn’t mean the whole thing is broken. A case for being very accurate when we’re reporting faults in products etc.
I’ve had people tell me this tool, or that tool, is the best tool on the market. Maybe, but let’s run a proof of concept with some measures to be sure. How have they ascertained this? What problem does it solve? How do they measure it? Are all the rest really that bad?
I’ve seen websites with false information, strategies that lie about the current reality, measures and dashboards that are careful to omit certain information and stories from people about successful deliveries that are clearly failing (I call this Watermelon reporting - green on the outside, red in the middle).
There is so much misinformation, subjective opinions and lies flying around in business that it’s very important a critical view is applied. If more people asked critical questions to get to the truth and facts, business leaders would make much better decisions.
By asking questions like the ones above we can start to get to the facts and the evidence and the data. By asking critical questions we can start to make better decisions and do what is right, not what someone with a loud voice and good communication skills tells us.
Asking good questions like these help to keep the business alive.
I am always inspired by Edward Deming’s quote:
“Without data, you’re just another person with an opinion”
Gather data by applying critical thinking then use that data to inform next steps.
And my kids are going to have to develop this skill due to the sheer number of websites with poor citation and shady information. If they are researching for their school studies, they will need to ask these questions a lot. MyBib is a decent tool for checking the level of quality within articles, books and websites. In case you’re interested.
Interesting Articles
This is brilliant. How most advice for those doing hard work is misleading - and how hard things should be done to get better as a person. Goal setting goodness, routines, letting go of outcomes and more. Very good.
Wellbeing is the key to keeping your people.Yep. Released a video on this topic the other week and it's not your fault! And yes - burnout numbers are staggeringly high.
Save yourself by asking good questions. Good questions help to keep the business alive - as we covered in today's newsletter.
Weird article but enjoyed the idea - stop racing around, live on tree time.
The robots are coming - White Castle to bring in robots to flip burgers.
A systems thinking basic from Seth Godin this week - simple problems aren't the real problems - it's the long running systemic ones that need fixing.
You are being watched at work - and it's got the potential to get out of hand.
Until next week.
Stay safe.
Rob
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Rob..