Debug your thinking
summary
Claims that decisions drive system outcomes more than languages or stacks and that decision quality improves by treating thinking like debugging using specific methods: ask Why five times, write a short problem statement, run reframes (the elevator → mirrors) to find nontechnical fixes. Demonstrated failures: a quick demo on a weak foundation later collapses, a gold‑plated greenfield exhausts budget. Practical tools: RFCs, devil’s advocate, mindfulness to catch false causality, authority and confirmation biases, and rotating collaborators to validate assumptions.
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chapters (29)
- 0:00Welcome
- 1:07Early career project failures
- 3:37Career turning points
- 5:21Over-engineering in greenfield projects
- 7:07Myth of perfect architecture
- 8:11Decision-making in engineering
- 10:19Debugging thoughts like systems
- 12:30Jumping straight to solutions
- 14:22Five whys for root causes
- 16:54Clear problem statements
- 18:45Reframing problems
- 20:51Engineers solving business problems
- 23:20Evolving problem understanding
- 24:02Biases in solution selection
- 26:30Thinking like children
- 29:01Psychological safety for ideas
- 31:11Diverse perspectives in problem-solving
- 34:46Managing chaos in brainstorming
- 35:50Cognitive biases in decisions
- 38:15Authority bias in teams
- 40:44Confirmation bias in solutions
- 43:13Questioning assumptions
- 44:19Mindfulness catching biases
- 46:26Devil's advocate in teams
- 48:11RFCs to reduce bias
- 51:01Slowing down saves time
- 52:05Writing down decisions
- 53:31Cross-discipline collaboration
- 54:14Critical thinking with AI
related talks
49mKeynote: Debug your thinking
26mTake a step back
53mMirror, mirror on the wall... Am I a critical thinker after all?
28mFinding better problems
26mDebugging Product Teams
25mMaking work (and life) less stressful by making better decisions
39mThe Art of Technical Decision Making
27mStrategies for making impossible decisions