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I hadn't thought about it in this context before, but I used to train Kendo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendo), a Japanes

I hadn't thought about it in this context before, but I used to train Kendo (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kendo), a Japanese martial art, a long time ago. One interesting thing is that Kendo doesn't have belts like most other martial arts, the principle being that seeing the color of someone's belt causes you to prejudge their ability. Ideally, you should only know how good they are by actually training/fighting with them. I've been very disappointed by comparing people's titles with their actual technical ability -- somehow it never seems to be the case that the ability outstrips the title.

skeeter2020 5y ago
>> somehow it never seems to be the case that the ability outstrips the title. Really? You've never worked with a junior who's punching far above their weight? I've had several on my team and work as hard as I can to get them promoted asap.
- HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
  OK, perhaps I should have said "rarely." I've had direct reports who were like that and happily gave them the max rating on Performance Reviews and recommended promotions. That said, it definitely gets rarer the higher up you go.
  - tehjoker 5y ago
    Peter principle
lr1970 5y ago
> somehow it never seems to be the case that the ability outstrips the title. People get promoted until they reach their level of incompetence :-)
mfrw 5y ago
> Kendo doesn't have belts like most other martial arts, the principle being that seeing the color of someone's belt causes you to prejudge their ability. TIL: This is a really interesting perspective; Thank You for this! I will use it from now to calm myself down. I, always either got mortified by the extreme skill of my juniors or by the incompetence of seniors — not sure if it’s the case with me or is it a general feeling. The Kendo way at-least makes me ignore the titles :)
Bolkan 5y ago
Reminds me of rocket league. It's 1v1s do not tell you the rank of your opponent until the end of the game. But you can clearly tell when you come across a player that is one rank above you. They play very differently. Beating that higher ranked player promotes you to their rank (and demoted them). It's like a mini boss that the game doesn't tell you about.
renox 5y ago
A long time ago, Judo didn't have color belt either, they added it for the Europeans so that they could see their progression.. That's one benefit but I think that the main benefit is that when you've a high level, you'll know that this guy in front of you is a beginner and you'll go soft on him, which is quite important: if he doesn't know how to fall properly the beginner could be injured if the "high level" guy doesn't notice in time..

skeeter2020 5y ago

>> somehow it never seems to be the case that the ability outstrips the title. Really? You've never worked with a junior who's punching far above their weight? I've had several on my team and work as hard as I can to get them promoted asap.

HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
OK, perhaps I should have said "rarely." I've had direct reports who were like that and happily gave them the max rating on Performance Reviews and recommended promotions. That said, it definitely gets rarer the higher up you go.
- tehjoker 5y ago
  Peter principle

lr1970 5y ago

> somehow it never seems to be the case that the ability outstrips the title. People get promoted until they reach their level of incompetence :-)

mfrw 5y ago

> Kendo doesn't have belts like most other martial arts, the principle being that seeing the color of someone's belt causes you to prejudge their ability. TIL: This is a really interesting perspective; Thank You for this! I will use it from now to calm myself down. I, always either got mortified by the extreme skill of my juniors or by the incompetence of seniors — not sure if it’s the case with me or is it a general feeling. The Kendo way at-least makes me ignore the titles :)

Bolkan 5y ago

Reminds me of rocket league. It's 1v1s do not tell you the rank of your opponent until the end of the game. But you can clearly tell when you come across a player that is one rank above you. They play very differently. Beating that higher ranked player promotes you to their rank (and demoted them). It's like a mini boss that the game doesn't tell you about.

renox 5y ago

A long time ago, Judo didn't have color belt either, they added it for the Europeans so that they could see their progression.. That's one benefit but I think that the main benefit is that when you've a high level, you'll know that this guy in front of you is a beginner and you'll go soft on him, which is quite important: if he doesn't know how to fall properly the beginner could be injured if the "high level" guy doesn't notice in time..