As has been noted in the previous comments, I have learned that “It depends” is really the most important artifact of my experience. Every project, every chall

As has been noted in the previous comments, I have learned that “It depends” is really the most important artifact of my experience. Every project, every challenge, every interpersonal relationship, is a unique context. There are global policies, strategies, and structures that apply to most contexts, but there’s always an “outlier,” that throws a curveball, and that won’t fit into the plan. Experience helps us to handle these out-of-band anomalies. We realize that we have a library of heuristics, as opposed to rules. “Breaking the rules” is serious stuff. When we are younger, we often lack awareness of the ramifications of our deviations, and can easily make things worse. When we have experience, we can “play the tape through to the end,” and anticipate the results of our decisions, much more clearly, as well as develop long-term transition strategies.