It’s a mix of analysis and emotions. You would think all engineers use extensive analysis, and some do. Most seem to take their analysis and swing it to go the way they feel it should go, which may or may not match all of the data. Some ignore some of the data if it doesn’t agree with what they want for an outcome.
Most techs do more analysis than the normal person. Yet, so many look at the analysis the way they want to see it. I do it too. I don’t know why but sometimes I am blinded by what I want, not what the data tells me. It’s frustrating.
This can be a problem. If blind analysis is all we needed, then tech people would have an advantage when picking stocks, but they don’t. They tend to overanalyze the stock picks or they get emotional or they miss the emotion of the market. It all matters. I sure as hell didn’t figure it out.
I have been reading a lot lately about decision making and stoicism. Stoicism helps take the emotion out of it so you see it for what it is, not what you may think it may be. Suddenly, you can see new alternatives or things that could happen that you didn’t expect.
I make a ton of mistakes, many of which I should have known better. I wish I could see things more clearly up front. That’s why we need data to understand what’s going on. I still can’t completely remove the emotion. This is something tech people think they can overcome, yet very few do unless they have Aspergers syndrome or something like that. Autism actually helps some people become better at some things, but socially it can cause problems. Even that doesn’t mean they’ll make the right data driven decisions.
I think several people overestimate their decision making, including me. I can always get better if I am willing to reflect and learn. Sometimes my decisions are just luck. I should not confuse luck with skill. Yet, many of us do. We get lucky and think we have all the answers. Then many of us crash and burn when the luck turns bad.
Why can’t we learn? Why can’t I get better at this?
Because it’s hard.
Because I have to face some embarrassing truths about myself, like I always have more to learn and consider. I need to become better at decision making.
Not only decision making but I have to realize there are some things that I just don’t know. I don’t know what I don’t know.
We still have to make decisions everyday, yet, we get better as we grow and gain clarity on who we are. We begin to realize that most decisions are a combination of data, emotion, and luck. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good. But, if you’re good, you tend to get lucky more often.
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Update on next book! I am putting together a new book on Private Wireless Networks. Hopefully by the end of January.