Thinking Fast and Slow

Daniel Kahneman, the great Nobel laureate, passed away on March 27, 2024. His books have made a significant imprint on my thinking. I told my kids that if there is one book that helps you understand people’s motivation, it is “Thinking Fast and Slow”.  I named my company after this book in honor of his work. I will try to summarize why. 

IT systems and projects can also be best designed by combining fast and slow. You can maintain agility and rapid iteration within the confines of a well-thought-through architecture and plan.

Why are we so biased?

In both the realms of psychology and economics, few works have resonated as profoundly with our understanding of decision-making "Thinking, Fast and Slow." Kahneman, delves into the intricacies of the human mind, explaining how our thoughts and decisions are shaped. At the core of Kahneman's exploration lies the groundbreaking concept of two distinct systems that govern our cognitive processes: the fast, intuitive System 1, and the slow, analytical System 2.

The Fast Mind: System 1 at Work

System 1 operates beneath the surface of consciousness, processing the world around us in real-time, without our explicit control. It's the system that crafts our first impressions, guides our intuitions, and makes quick, automatic judgments. System 1 is always on, constantly scanning the environment, ready to offer up reactions and judgments at any time. It's the part of us that effortlessly completes the sentence "bread and..." with "butter," or reads emotion in a friend's face before we consciously think about it. This system is incredibly efficient and instantaneous, but its automatic nature makes it prone to biases and errors in judgment. It’s system 1 that most social media address in their algorithms to evoke quick reactions and emotions, which drives clicks. 

The Deliberate Mind: System 2's Domain

In contrast, System 2 demands our attention and thought. It's the part of our brain that embarks on complex calculations, analyzes challenging concepts, and makes deliberate decisions. When we encounter a complex math problem, we call upon System 2 to methodically work through the solution (with the exception of the odd math wizard). System 2 is our slower, more conscious self, capable of reasoning, reflecting, and controlling the impulses and suggestions provided by System 1. Kahneman describes system 2 as reluctant to be invoked, as it takes effort to think. (it literally demands more energy, as shown in MRI scans). However, without system 2 we would not have been able to create most of what you see around you. 

The Interaction Between Systems

Both systems coexist and interact within our minds, shaping our perceptions, decisions, and actions. System 1 continuously feeds System 2 with impressions and intuitions. System 2 often endorses these suggestions without significant alteration when everything aligns, leading us to act on our desires and believe our impressions. However, when System 1 encounters a challenge beyond its capability, System 2 is summoned to bring its analytical prowess to bear. This mobilization of System 2 can be felt as a surge of focused attention, especially when we're surprised or something contradicts our worldview. This requires conscious thought and takes energy.

Many years back, I had the opportunity to talk to Johan Cruijff, who, by many accounts, was the best soccer player ever. I asked him if he was consciously thinking during the matches he played. “No”, he answered, “I just play. I am fully immersed.” He was unconsciously highly competent because of his unique talent, training, and countless games he had played. “However”, he continued, “I play many games in my head before and after the match. Before the match, I try to imagine the players, the situations, and the tactics required to deal with them. After a game, I replay it in my head and extract the learnings”. He had played a multitude of games in his imagination and used system 2 to analyze and strategize. This was input for his inuition. During a real game, he solely operated on system 1.

Navigating the Mind's Pitfalls

Despite its efficiency, System 1's autonomy can lead to cognitive biases and errors that System 2 needs to manage with its higher reasoning capability. Recognizing when to doubt our intuitive System 1 and engage our analytical System 2 is crucial, especially when the stakes are high, and mistakes can have significant consequences. Kahneman suggests the best approach is to be aware of the scenarios we’re most likely to err and apply our analytical thinking more rigorously. It is about being conscious. You can find a list of biases here. Many will be known, such as planning fallacy, anchoring, cognitive bias, loss aversion, and confirmation bias.

Think Slow, Act Fast

Kahneman's "Thinking, Fast and Slow" isn't just a book; it's a manual for understanding the complexity of decison making. By dissecting the dynamic interplay between the fast, intuitive System 1 and the slow, reasoning System 2, Kahneman offers invaluable insights into the processes behind our thoughts, decisions, and actions. His work encourages us to reflect on our thought patterns, recognize our cognitive biases, and strive for better, more informed decisions.

Fast and Slow apply to organizations as well. A slow core provides stability and continuity, while a fast edge allows experimentation, improvement, and innovation. The essence is that “Fast learns, slow remembers. Fast proposes, slow disposes. Fast is discontinuous, and slow is continuous. Fast and small instruct slow and big by accrued innovation and occasional revolution. Slow and big control small and fast by constraint and constancy.”  This concept of ‘pace layering,’ influenced by Stewart Brand’s seminal article, elucidates how ecological systems manage change and absorb shocks. “The answer appears to lie in the relationship between components in a system with different change rates and scales. Instead of breaking under stress like something brittle, these systems yield as if they were soft. Some parts respond quickly to the shock, allowing slower parts to ignore it and maintain their steady duties of system continuity.”

IT systems and projects can also be best designed by combining fast and slow. You can maintain agility and rapid iteration within the confines of a well-thought-through architecture and plan. Most large-scale projects are best approached as a complex system: many dynamic forces can propel the project to success or failure. Understanding the full context, influences, and dynamics will be critical for success, as will fast iteration and adjustment. 

Being conscious of our design decisions (in organization structures, product design, systems architecture, and problem-solving) and understanding the biases that may set us off course will undoubtedly lead to better outcomes. 

Note that I used OpenAI's ChatGPT to provide feedback on my writing.