Chesterton's Fence

Mental models

Before removing a rule, a process or a line item, find out why it was put there. Apparent waste in a business, a balance sheet or a regulation is often absorbing a cost you cannot see from outside. The model is a discipline of humility toward decisions made by people who knew something you do not.

5 books · 1 people behind it · 4 resources

The people behind it 1

Each person holds a book in this entry or names it in their own tags.

Journalists 1

Resources 4

• Chesterton's Fence: A Lesson in Second Order ThinkingShane Parrish · essay · Why you must know why a rule exists before removing it.
• Unintended ConsequencesShane Parrish · essay · How well-meant rules produce the opposite result.
• Iatrogenics: Harm Done by the HealerShane Parrish · essay · Intervention that does more damage than the disease.
• Slack: The Case for Unused CapacityShane Parrish · essay · Systems run at full utilisation have no room to absorb shocks.

Books 5