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First chapter of think like a rocket scientist. #3

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First chapter of think like a rocket scientist.
harshadixit12 Apr 17, 2022
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Chapter 2 of think like a rocket scientist.
harshadixit12 Apr 17, 2022
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Why I picked it up?
To get better at solving open ended engineering problems.

We as humans have a tendency to control everything we can. We are taught that there is a single right answer to every problem, and that science makes progress in a straight line.
The most scary scenario is when we have uncertainty without any bounds on it.
However, in real world, progress happens only when we grapple with uncertainty. We create value by making the most of uncertainty.
We can manage uncertainty through knowledge - by figuring out what we know and what we dont know, we can measure the uncertainty. Once we know what we don't know, we can manage it using engineering principles - redundancy and margins of safety.

Some good questions to ask -
What am I afraid of?
What is the worst case scenario and how likely is it?
What is the best case scenario and how likely is it?
If probability of failure is high, what is the cose of failure? Is it one way door or two way door?

First principles
We are often constrained by past ways of thinking, and are genetically programmed to follow the herd. While dealing with uncertainty, this is recipe for failure. To think from first principles, we should systematically doubt everything that you can possibly do, until we're left with fundamental truths. We should hack through assumptions - some of which we are not aware we have - until we're left with fundamental components. Some things can hold us back - clinging to our reputation for example which does not let us take risks, however having an appetite for desctruction helps rebuild better.

Useful activity - kill the company exercise. Ex: Why would users choose our competitors?

Some good questions to ask -
What if this weren't true? Why am I doing it this way, and can I replace it with something better? - Dont come up with more than 1 reason.
What are the assumptions I'm operating under? How did they come about and are they relevant?
Am I afraid of making a change?