A Slow Fire
Gradual change is hard to notice. We adapt quickly to a smell, to noise, to rising expenses, to a deteriorating relationship and to daily fatigue. Each separate step is too…
Bad Weather Without Promises
The social ritual of consolation requires promising that a hard period will soon be over and everything is bound to work out. Sometimes that helps. Sometimes it passes a wish…
Uneven Distribution of Benefit
In many systems a small share of the causes produces a large share of the result. Some clients bring in most of the revenue. A few defects cause the bulk…
The Cost of a Question
The school stereotype divides questions into clever and stupid, and people into those who understood at once and those who made fools of themselves. In practice the quality of a…
Responsibility Without Omnipotence
The culture of personal effectiveness is happy to tell you that the result depends on you alone. The idea gives a sense of control — and quietly credits a person…
Good enough
Professional morality often confuses quality with maximum quality. But work is good not when everything possible has been put into it, but when it reliably meets the requirements at a…