“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. —LEONARDO DA VINCI, 15TH-CENTURY PAINTER AND INVENTOR” — Nat Greene Copy Share Image
“If you believe that success is inevitable, you’re less likely to work your tail off in order to achieve it. Hard problems are definitely immune to the power of belief. Simply deciding that you’ll solve something doesn’t solve it. The best problem-solvers I know hold in their head a kind of contradiction. They simultaneously hold two beliefs: They have the… — Nat Greene Copy Share
“To solve truly hard problems, you’ll need to use a method that doesn’t involve guessing in any step.” — Nat Greene Copy Share Image
“Defining the acceptable and unacceptable ranges for this variable means that the problem definition is objective and immune to opinion.” — Nat Greene Copy Share Image
“Embrace your ignorance. Most people try to solve problems using the knowledge they already have about a process, but it’s what you don’t know that lies between you and the solution. Often we are afraid to admit our ignorance in front of others in order to preserve our reputation. Great problem-solvers not only admit their ignorance but also embrace it… — Nat Greene Copy Share
“When a system isn’t working right, someone has to understand how it’s meant to work, at the right depth, in order to fix it.… — Nat Greene Copy Share Image
“When you move down your tree, keep in mind there may be multiple variables contributing to the failure.” — Nat Greene Copy Share Image
“There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance. —HIPPOCRATES, ANCIENT GREEK FOUNDER OF THE SCIENCE OF… — Nat Greene Copy Share Image
“We need to understand what variables most directly control our primary variable by understanding the science behind how the system works.” — Nat Greene Copy Share Image
“Perhaps many aid organizations make assumptions about the problem they are solving, and throw hundreds of billions of dollars at the problem to little… — Nat Greene Copy Share Image
“The last major risk to getting good facts is our own prejudices. While we may not always test a solution based on our opinions… — Nat Greene Copy Share Image
“most methods disguise the guessing stage in some fancy language, such as “determine possible root causes.” This is making a list of guesses, and at this point I hope you would read such an instruction and declare, “How the heck am I meant to do that?” Even coming up with a “hypothesis” is a guess, despite it being a scientific… — Nat Greene Copy Share
“Perhaps the most useful approach for defining the problem well is structuring it as a measurable variable.” — Nat Greene Copy Share Image
