Workplace Jedi Mind Tricks
Assumption hacking hacks
New job, new people, new problems - same questions. I’ve realized once one stumbles upon a turn of phrase that gets to deeper thinking, past defensiveness, or surfaces important assumptions - then you keep using it.
I’m just jotting down a few I’ve found especially useful. Please share yours.
I was inspired by a colleague who retried a question I’d asked him earlier.
This inspired me to collect a few more and share below. Special thanks to Lisa Scheinkopf of TOC fame who turned me onto to the “assumption hacking” phrase.
Noting assumptions is a big deal. Once you notice how many conflicts or suboptimal solutions have their roots in implicit assumptions it’s hard to unsee. Making those assumptions explicit is an incredibly powerful tool for breakthrough thinking. As many assumptions on how we do things are rooted in reasonable past solutions that may no longer apply - making underlying assumptions visible is often a winning strategy. That like many of the questions below can seem like a Jedi mind expansion trick.
What would have to be true to cut the time to do this in half? Even if it sounds ridiculous let’s just say it out loud.
Instead of meeting serially about this problem, would we be better off if we all just worked on it together for 1-2 focused days? How about 2 hours?
Would this project go faster if we asked ______ who to meet with first, and have them make a list of what they’d worry about going wrong?
We can’t decide between these 3-5 very different approaches. Can we get in a room, and go through each one and all discuss what would have to be true for each to be the best idea?
What if we asked the people who kept asking us to experiment (or pull data for them) what are the possibly differ t outcomes, and what they would do differently in each case?
If you can only do one item from this large list of things which would you choose first? And how did you select that choice?
What does the team do often, that takes a lot of time, which we could automate? Given how much time we would spend automate away the work, when do we break even on the investment?
When would this get done if we had everyone work on it, even if some people wouldn’t be 100% busy?
Yes, that team’s position seems crazy. What do you think could be true for them for that crazy position to make sense? What did they tell you when you asked?
That’s all for now. Though I’m sure something will come to mind as soon as I hit publish. Please do share your thoughts, tips, and tricks in the comments.