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The initial comments on this post seem unreasonably negative. I did have to stop and process things a bit, but the underlying idea deeply resonates with me. Thi

The initial comments on this post seem unreasonably negative. I did have to stop and process things a bit, but the underlying idea deeply resonates with me. This is quite the nugget: > The context is smarter than you. It holds more nuance and information than you can fit in your head. Collaborate with it. Sometimes, I feel like our mental models can form outside of a context (e.g., a classroom setting), and we are tempted to "force" the context to mold to the existing mental model. The problem, as the author describes, is the context tends to be far more complex than your rudimentary mental model. Instead of forcing the mental model, allow the context to inform and grow it to be reasonable for the current situation. I find this particularly valuable in the field of platform engineering where this sort of behavior is prevalent. Every software team is different, and contexts can vary to a large degree. Instead of taking "the best platform approach" and trying to make your team conform to it, go "be" in the team and let that experience inform what the "best platform approach" is.

euvin 2y ago
> Sometimes, I feel like our mental models can form outside of a context (e.g., a classroom setting), and we are tempted to "force" the context to mold to the existing mental model. The problem, as the author describes, is the context tends to be far more complex than your rudimentary mental model. Right. A lot of common wisdom I hear seems to agree, like "professional work > university courses", "experience > reading theory", "iterative launches > the perfect launch", "just play/draw/code/practice more". The line about the context being smarter seems like an amalgamation of all of that, where direct experience with the "context" (the real world) yields a subconscious amount of depth you can't even imagine beforehand, much less with rigid external abstractions drilled into you.
theGnuMe 2y ago
You should listen to this week’s episode of Hidden Brain.
bgoated01 2y ago
Often times in areas I'm experienced in I will feel strongly that a certain decision is the way to go based on intuition or gut feel. I do think these intuitions are usually correct, but would be hard pressed to describe why. I even sometimes end up BSing something if I'm asked because I'm convinced there is a good reason, I just don't know exactly how to explain it right in the moment. I think the discussion here about the context does a lot to explain that phenomenon for me. The context is smarter than me, and the context collaborates with me without putting all the information in my head. Of course, I could still benefit from practicing explaining the intuition...

euvin 2y ago

> Sometimes, I feel like our mental models can form outside of a context (e.g., a classroom setting), and we are tempted to "force" the context to mold to the existing mental model. The problem, as the author describes, is the context tends to be far more complex than your rudimentary mental model. Right. A lot of common wisdom I hear seems to agree, like "professional work > university courses", "experience > reading theory", "iterative launches > the perfect launch", "just play/draw/code/practice more". The line about the context being smarter seems like an amalgamation of all of that, where direct experience with the "context" (the real world) yields a subconscious amount of depth you can't even imagine beforehand, much less with rigid external abstractions drilled into you.

theGnuMe 2y ago

You should listen to this week’s episode of Hidden Brain.

bgoated01 2y ago

Often times in areas I'm experienced in I will feel strongly that a certain decision is the way to go based on intuition or gut feel. I do think these intuitions are usually correct, but would be hard pressed to describe why. I even sometimes end up BSing something if I'm asked because I'm convinced there is a good reason, I just don't know exactly how to explain it right in the moment. I think the discussion here about the context does a lot to explain that phenomenon for me. The context is smarter than me, and the context collaborates with me without putting all the information in my head. Of course, I could still benefit from practicing explaining the intuition...