Professional Philosophies

Here are some simple philosophical approaches that I like. I haven’t identified a unified thread that weaves them together, or a school of thought that they derive from. Rather, they are themes drawn out from reflections on hard and good times over the years, selected for being the most important few.

Context

Understand the framing of any belief, decision or action. There are many possible perspectives and they each change over time. Having an inaccurate context can make well intentioned and high-quality work useless.

Principles

Decide on principles and use them to guide further decisions. Openly transmit them to foster a culture.

Modularity and Continuous Evolution

Most interesting activities will be Complex. Complex systems evolve, as emergence can’t be designed for before the fact, so iterate. Modularity can help manage complexity, even if the result needs to be be an integrated whole.

Trade-offs are Everywhere

Even when following a clearly-correct course of action, be aware of the costs. “There are no solutions, only tradeoffs”

Right-sizing and Pragmatism

What works in one context may be disastrous in another. Perfection is the enemy of “done”, and taking shortcuts can destroy everything.

Bias to High Expectations

When in doubt choose the high road. High expectations lead to their own virtuous cycles. Use Principles to decide between high roads.