Sketchplanations @sketchplanator Twitter profile

Pinned Tweet

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

11 days

@JamesClear For a toolkit's worth of thinking tools, check out my book Big Ideas Little Pictures:

1

18

Last Seen Profiles

@kumi72154936906

@navffit_

@mi9470280949893

@Pitt_MBB

@FCBfemeni

@troelslundp

@DinoM_1

@_l3liq

@natsu0202455373

@Danky_Tanky

@broussard_troy

@sakisefure40672

@AntiBullyingPro

@maxshadx

@MuslumAygun

@aanausa

@BrianWilson38

@JacquiOatley

@ChunkyKongDK1

@Ssenyonyiderick

@MichMiLo

@Hustle

@SeggoAhmet

@braybraygd

@RGwiazdowski

@LilaIkeJa

@kiimhynjin

@Vaughan_Academy

@sjorsmahler

@the_trash_child

@Irihauser

@hay_k87

@sugichantakasi

@allin

@andrewmena

@rioasutari82785

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

Whenever you look to generalise from a small sample watch out for sampling bias (and all other sorts of bias that can easily creep in). Extreme example from How to Lie with Statistics by Darrell Huff:

18

502

2K

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

4 years

The Swiss Cheese Model for understanding accidents and improving safety J Reason's model illustrates how accidents can occur in complex systems when multiple contributing factors happen to align at the same time. #coronavirus example from @ClevelandClinic

21

489

1K

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

In my experience, if I'm confused, others likely are too — asking is a public service

16

243

1K

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

6 years

Accuracy and precision - not the same thing

5

255

716

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

You get what you measure

8

182

690

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

The tragedy of the commons

8

152

597

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

Bosses push information to authority. Leaders push authority to information. — A little gem from ex-sub captain L. David Marquet @ldavidmarquet

14

132

569

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

4 years

The BS asymmetry principle also known as Brandolini's law — the simple observation that it’s far easier to produce and spread BS, misinformation and nonsense than it is to refute it. The original: from @ziobrando

10

312

545

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

From the old story about the statistician who drowned after seeing that the average depth was 3ft. A psychology professor gave me the wise advice: Spend time with your data. Sometimes it's the only way to know what's happening for sure.

5

115

491

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

This way of storing energy is used on a number of central London underground stations: constructing the stations at the top of a small hill in the track. Apparently, on London's Victoria line this saves 5% in energy and helps the trains run 9% faster.

4

88

482

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

The curb-cut effect The curb-cut effect illustrates how when we design to benefit disadvantaged or vulnerable groups we end up helping society as a whole.

4

126

427

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 month

You get what you measure

2

94

423

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

Data avoids arguments. It's why I love this quote from W. Edwards Deming: "Without data you're just another person with an opinion." Or as Jim Barksdale, former Netscape CEO, said: "If we have data, let's look at data. If all we have are opinions, let's go with mine."

6

134

415

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

The curb-cut effect: when we design for disabilities we make things better for everyone. From Angela Glover Blackwell at @policylink

8

142

414

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

The 3 tallest mountains — it depends on how you measure them

4

62

389

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

Sad to hear today of the death of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. He contributed so much through his research on creativity, which helped me decide to do a PhD, happiness, his concept of flow - which guides me daily - and more.

4

122

389

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

4 months

The word amphitheatre derives from the Greek word amphi- loosely meaning on both sides or all around. The same pattern is in amphoras—handles on both sides—and amphibians—at home on both land and water. It's fun having an aunt who used to teach classics =)

2

54

381

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

6 months

The Responsibility Poem or Whose job is it? It might be up to you.

3

79

373

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

10 months

The true cost of being late—it's rarely just one person's time New podcast episode incoming. Hope you enjoy it!

1

84

368

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

Todd Jackson memorably shared that a manager can be an umbrella — protecting their team to let them get work done — or a funnel — letting everything pour through. We all want autonomy to choose our actions but none of us want to be overwhelmed. Be the umbrella. Thanks @tjack

2

113

360

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Somewhere between the janitor and the CEO, reasons stop mattering — Steve Jobs I learned this from the excellent @joulee

4

63

357

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

The curb-cut effect illustrates how when we design to benefit disadvantaged or vulnerable groups we end up helping society as a whole. More: Thanks Angela Glover Blackwell @agb4equity @policylink

6

105

340

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

5 years

The remarkable observation that the length of a coastline doesn’t converge on a more accurate figure the closer you measure it. Instead, the smaller your ruler, the longer it gets - the coastline paradox For a textplanation:

6

123

317

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

This is a nice example of the accountability ladder

0

77

326

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

A recap of some of the fundamental parts of a circle, in case you forgot any.

4

54

318

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

For some obscure reason English speakers will almost always find a flip-flop to be more natural than a flop-flip, or a pitter patter of tiny feet to a patter pitter. It's known as ablaut reduplication and the vowels almost always follow the order I-A-O.

10

76

311

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

"You can know the name of that bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird." — Feynman's father, from Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman?

5

76

310

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

5 months

The Barnum effect is our tendency to apply personal meaning to statements that could apply to many people. You may recognise it from a horoscope or your star sign, magicians, fortune-tellers, fortune cookies, con artists and, perhaps, marketing.

3

67

307

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

Plan ahead and avoid mistakes like this. Perhaps a nice reminder, as we approach a new year full of possibilities, to make sure your D fits in properly. Hope you're getting to enjoy a lovely holiday 🎄

6

43

304

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

2 factor authentication

0

75

301

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

Bloom's Taxonomy for learning (revised) — Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate, Create The hierarchy reflects, among other things, that a strong foundation for learning is knowledge.

4

72

300

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

It's been called the expectation effect. Is it a B or a 13? It appears that how we see depends on the context and what we expect to see. This neat example is from a 1955 experiment by Jerome Bruner and A. Leigh Minturn.

1

89

297

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

Data Information Knowledge Wisdom In his poem The Rock, T.S. Eliot wrote: Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?

6

76

292

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

7 months

A recessed button affords pressing it. A sticking-out dial affords twiddling it. You shouldn't need trial and error to get through a door. An object should communicate a good part of how to use it through its affordances.

4

53

287

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

Understanding the basic English braille alphabet Invented by Louis Braille aged 15 🤯

2

66

285

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

Rubberducking

3

61

284

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

The beautiful Japanese worldview of appreciating the small traits of imperfection, the changes of wear and age, and that nothing is wholly complete: wabi sabi It helps us see the beauty in what isn't perfect and brand new — something as a society we could do with more of.

6

79

281

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Only dead fish go with the flow. A nice reminder to swim your own path in life and be true to yourself.

3

94

275

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 months

The Chaos Monkey: Netflix built software that turns servers off at random to simulate failures and build resilience

5

40

274

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

9 months

Chihuahua syndrome: messy data from variations in spelling or input. The name The chihuahua syndrome is from @EdwardTufte in his new book Seeing with Fresh Eyes, based on an anecdote from Chris Groskopf @onxyfish

7

63

277

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

5 months

Jólabókaflóð, or Christmas Book Flood, is the charming Icelandic tradition of giving books as gifts, opening them on Christmas Eve, and settling in to read them together, ideally with hot chocolate or other warming wintry drink.

2

71

269

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

If we're really honest with ourselves, sometimes we find ourselves working in the places we find it easier rather than the places where we know we ought to be.

3

93

266

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Pleonasms Not to over-exaggerate but I think they're absolutely perfect. And to warn you in advance, as an extra bonus, my past experience is that they're everywhere. Honest truth!

4

54

269

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

4 years

Sometimes making it clear who doesn't have a say in a task or project can be the most helpful thing to do. The RACI framework.

0

62

256

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

Optimism bias is a tendency to believe that things will turn out well in spite of past evidence or circumstances. It can be extremely helpful. Optimists are often healthier and happier. But it can also undermine us. May your optimism be well-founded.

1

47

247

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

4 years

The cost of being late - Unless your time is worth a lot more than everyone else’s it’s worth thinking twice before holding the door to a train or not taking the start of a meeting seriously. I think, at the end of the day, t’s really about respect.

2

161

247

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Heat islands: urban areas that experience higher temperatures than surrounding rural areas. If you are in a Northern hemisphere city right now you may well be able to relate to this.

4

78

248

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

As the metaphor goes, you may feel you have no time to stop and sharpen the saw. Until you do it, and then you may realise you have no time to not stop and sharpen the saw. Sharpen the saw is habit 7 of Steven Covey's classic The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

2

54

237

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

5 years

Adjective ordering you never knew you knew: compare, for example, a super little Italian coffee, to an Italian little super coffee.

3

70

238

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

The Learning Pit: that struggle before getting it Passing through that uncomfortable space of confusion and contradiction, perseverance and hard work before we get out the other side. See @TheLearningPit by @JamesNottinghm

5

55

234

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Don't ask the barber if you need a haircut — a simple reminder that asking someone with a vested interest in the outcome isn't likely to give you an impartial answer.

3

58

231

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

See how monkeys can help you spot passive writing in your copy, subtly removing your responsibility. This super example and technique is from @monzo 's tone of voice guidelines. Handy for writing copy on the web, for your brand, and every day. More:

1

51

230

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

0

38

224

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

4 months

The fun scale: all fun is not created equal

1

51

229

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

4 years

Simple, timeless advice for wellbeing from Kurt Vonnegut: notice when you're happy. "I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, ‘If this isn’t nice, I don’t know what is'.” More:

0

75

227

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

10 months

How to remember if you did something

6

44

223

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

6 years

Time to plan some more Type II outdoor fun in your life? - The fun scale

5

52

221

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

6 months

The Pyramid Principle from Barbara Minto. Getting your point across by doing the hard work of organising your ideas for your reader.

0

54

226

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

If you want to make something simple, you have to do the work. It's rather like the saying: "If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter." Sketch based on a quote attributed to Woodrow Wilson.

5

43

224

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

Attribution bias includes a set of more specific biases where we may attribute behaviour to fixed personality traits or characteristics of a person rather than specific circumstances or actions.

1

58

218

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

When drinking tea, just drink tea. Stay in the moment. Don't try to do things at the same time. Leave the phone in the other room. This proverb has stuck with me since I first came across it in a NYT article from @michaelpollan in 2009 🙏

5

59

217

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Anyone who's tried their hand at research, built some software, or even run a kid's birthday party may relate to this idea: In theory, practice is the same as theory, but not in practice.

3

49

220

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 month

Black swan events

4

48

215

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

The Shirky Principle

4

44

211

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

Reid Hoffman, cofounder of LinkedIn, on starting a company

3

35

208

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

In Sir Arthur Eddington's parable of the fishing net a scientist studying fish by hauling them up with nets concludes that there is a minimum size of fish in the sea. You get what you measure, and your instrument affects what you see. More: #metrics

2

68

209

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

7 years

Goodhart’s Law - or we’ll find ways to game a performance measure. HT: Robert Matthews @sciencefocus

0

104

208

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

4 years

Stuck? Try a walk From the Greek philosopher Diogenes: Solvitur ambulando - it is solved by walking.

4

71

201

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 months

RAS Syndrome RAS = Redundant Acronym Syndrome

1

49

201

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

How to remember if you did something #tip #advice #lifehack

3

43

197

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

4 years

How to wash your hands like the pros. Useful in these highly contagious times. Based on advice from the excellent NHS Thread 1/3

5

137

190

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Fortunately, diversity and psychological safety are enemies of groupthink.

1

51

193

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

When we notice two things change with each other — sunny days and ice cream sales — it's natural to think that one thing is the cause of the other. But our natural sense-making behaviours can easily lead us astray. Correlation does not imply causation.

4

45

195

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

It's hard to beat the feeling of the warmth of the winter sun on your face. There's a word for it too: apricity.

2

37

192

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

Wabi sabi #mentalhealth #wellbeing #mindfulness #japan

1

46

190

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

How more choices can make us less happy: - Raised expectations - The opportunity cost of what we could have had - Regret and anticipated regret of the choice we made - Self-blame when we think the wrong choice is our fault Barry Schwartz' paradox of choice

3

48

189

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

4 months

The XY Problem There's art and skill in respectfully answering questions and helping with what's asked while seeking to understand the real goal. And if you're asking questions, providing more context may help others provide better answers.

1

56

192

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Kintsugi — repairing with gold. Embracing past damage and repair rather than hiding it.

1

47

190

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

11 months

It's easy to want to complain at the weather. The trouble is, it doesn't have any effect on it.

0

36

186

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Abraham Maslow's hierarchy of human needs. Maslow continued to refine his original framework. For all its flaws — it always provokes discussion and counter-arguments in my experience — it's remained a clarifying and remarkably enduring model.

5

52

182

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Where is the Life we have lost in living? Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information? — TS Eliot

2

39

186

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

Because we know all about our own house it's easy to find ourselves comparing how we're doing in the back with how others are doing in the front. The truth is we don't know how others are doing so best not be comparing at all.

1

36

180

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

Confirmation bias is the big one — seeking out information that fits our beliefs. When we deliberately seek out information that challenges our point of view we will usually find a richer, more nuanced world that helps build bridges with others rather than drive us apart.

6

66

181

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

The old, old story of the blind and the elephant. I'd guess most of our experience is somewhat like this. We rarely see the whole truth. When we stay humble and accept others' experience we give ourselves the chance to learn a little more.

3

59

182

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

4 years

A model for Hope — more than a feeling. Hope needs goals, seeing pathways to reach them and willpower or agency — the belief you have the ability needed. Without each of these hope is diminished. Model paraphrased from CR Snyder

3

73

179

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Chesterton's fence: Don't take a fence down unless you know why it was put up. Once we understand why the fence was there in the first place and if we still think it's of no use, then by all means pull it down. Fences, laws, policies, designs... After GK Chesterton

3

44

178

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Imposter syndrome

3

46

174

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

5 years

On this day of eggs perhaps together we can save millions from being wasted - the egg float test

4

50

171

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

Hope

2

39

170

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

3 years

Yak shaving. It happens to all of us — tidying your room? — and particularly resonates in software development where when tackling one thing you find yourself fixing something else, which needs you to fix something else, to fix something else...

3

60

169

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

6 years

2 factor authentication: drawing from 2 of something you know, something you are, something you have.

5

90

167

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

Find the North star

3

33

167

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

6 months

Weather and climate: an analogy

2

33

165

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

Flow

1

33

167

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

2 years

The Rhyme As Reason Effect suggests that we're more likely to consider something as accurate or truthful when it rhymes. From the delightfully titled paper Birds of a feather flock conjointly: Rhyme as Reason in Aphorisms, by Matthew McGlone and Jessica Tofighbakhsh

3

43

166

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

2 factor authentication

0

32

164

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

10 months

Point positive: agreeing in advance to point towards the safe way out of danger rather than towards the dangers themselves. Also a reminder that it's often less helpful to dwell on difficulties and problems than to direct our energies toward positive ways forward and solutions.

3

41

167

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

The trust equation

6

42

162

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

1 year

Metrics are like an onion: full of layers. A simple question to ask can often be complicated to answer. Or we may find that we really need to ask a different question.

1

40

162

Sketchplanations

@sketchplanator

5 years

A beautiful Japanese word for the acquiring and piling up of books without reading them. Constructued from 2 words loosely meaning ‘piling up’ and ‘reading’ - Tsundoku

2

83

162