Empower the Team

…point out the importance of critical thinking

The Problem
Everyone thinks; it is our nature to do so. But much of our thinking, left to itself, is biased, distorted, partial, uninformed or down-right prejudiced. Yet the quality of our life and that of what we produce, make, or build depends precisely on the quality of our thought. Shoddy thinking is costly, both in money and in quality of life. Excellence in thought, however, must be systematically cultivated.

A Definition
Critical thinking is that mode of thinking – about any subject, content, or problem – in which the thinker improves the quality of his or her thinking by skillfully taking charge of the structures inherent in thinking and imposing intellectual standards upon them.

The Result
A well cultivated critical thinker:

• raises vital questions and problems, formulating them clearly and precisely;
• gathers and assesses relevant information, using abstract ideas to interpret it effectively comes to well-reasoned conclusions and solutions, testing them against relevant criteria and standards;
• thinks openmindedly within alternative systems of thought, recognizing and assessing, as need be, their assumptions, implications, and practical consequences; and
• communicates effectively with others in figuring out solutions to complex problems.

Critical thinking is, in short, self-directed, self-disciplined, self-monitored, and self-corrective thinking. It presupposes assent to rigorous standards of excellence and mindful command of their use.
It entails effective communication and problem solving abilities and a commitment to overcome our native egocentrism and sociocentrism.

(source: http://www.criticalthinking.org)

I have stumbled yesterday on this presentation given by Linda Rising at QCon SF 2007: “Perfection Is An Unrealistic Goal”.

It underlines the impedance between how humans are hardwired to work (in ~90 min focused sprints followed
by a 20-30 min break) and the prejudices haunting our workplaces (where productivity is associated with
longer hours without any break and agility means people can interrupt each other at any time).

The Broken Bridge and The Dream – Salvador Dali

“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” – Robert Kennedy

from Jackie Moms Mabely, found on You Learn Something New Every Day blog :

If you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got.