Hacker News with Generative AI: Decision Making

Engineers who won't commit (seangoedecke.com)
Some engineers think it’s a virtue to remain non-committal in technical discussions. Should our team build a new feature in an event-driven or synchronous way? Well, it depends: there are many strong technical reasons on each side, so it’s better to keep an open mind and not come down on either side.
Software Engineering, Collaboration, Decision Making
53 points by kiyanwang 12 days ago | 59 comments
A pilot makes a tough call and cancels the flight because of some alarming signs (reddit.com)
A pilot reluctantly makes an extremely tough call and cancels the flight because of some alarming signs on the aircraft
Aviation, Safety, Decision Making
13 points by perihelions 32 days ago | 2 comments
How I Choose What to Work On (2023) (tynan.com)
A reader, “Moo”, asked me to write about my process for entrepreneurship and how I choose what to write on. Despite being a lifelong entrepreneur and being relatively successful at it, I don’t write a lot about it because I routinely make decisions that trade money for other things (freedom, autonomy, quality of life, stubborn insistence on what I want a product to be, etc).
Entrepreneurship, Productivity, Decision Making, Work-Life Balance
114 points by freemh 32 days ago | 31 comments
Ask HN: I feel I can no longer trust my gut (ycombinator.com)
Decision Making, Trust, Intuition
14 points by mertleee 34 days ago | 4 comments
It Is Now or It Is Never (kottke.org)
It is now or it is never, and if it is never, I will not continue to work here.
Motivation, Decision Making, Time Management
30 points by wawayanda 36 days ago | 3 comments
LiquidFeedback – a free software for political opinion formation and decisions (wikipedia.org)
LiquidFeedback is free software for political opinion formation and decision making. The software incorporates insights from social choice theory in order to aggregate opinions more effectively.
Political Science, Free Software, Decision Making
7 points by faebi 41 days ago | 0 comments
Are There Opportunities to Use OODA Loops in Your Software Project? (atomicobject.com)
The world is full of good ideas misapplied, so I want to be careful when discussing OODA loops. The OODA loop was created as an idea in the study of war. War is endemic to the way humans are (at least, so far), but it is always, in part or in whole, a tragedy. And characterizing software engineering, business operations or entrepreneurship as a conflict in that vein can create an overly aggressive view of the world.
Software Development, Project Management, Decision Making
9 points by philk10 44 days ago | 12 comments
"It has been determined" that infected dairy herd serology can be disclosed (hogvet51.substack.com)
Opaqueness in decision-making was an eye-opener for me 22 years ago when I moved to federal service from the private sector. Controversial or unpopular decisions came down from above with no fingerprints, just a third-party attribution, e.g. “it has been determined…” I came to quickly realize that not personally owning a tough to-defend decision is a form of professional survival in the chain of command of the regulatory environment.
Government, Transparency, Decision Making, Public Health, Animal Health
61 points by ctoth 46 days ago | 39 comments
Show HN: Prioritize Anything with Stacks (stack-ranker.com)
When faced with many options, choosing gets complicated. Stacks breaks down your decisions into simple, bite-sized comparisons to help you discover what matters most.
Decision Making, Productivity, Tools, Software
46 points by seanconnollydev 60 days ago | 34 comments
Ask for no, don't ask for yes (2022) (mooreds.com)
I think it is important to have a bias for action. Like anything else, this is something you can make a habit of. Moving forward allows you to make progress. I don’t know about you, but I’ve frozen up in the past not knowing what the right path was for me. Moving forward, even the smallest possible step, helped break that stasis.
Decision Making, Habits, Motivation
749 points by mooreds 62 days ago | 276 comments
Decisions are temporary, so make the call and move on (basecamp.com)
Done. Start to think of it as a magical word. When you get to done it means something’s been accomplished. A decision has been made and you can move on. Done means you’re building momentum.
Productivity, Decision Making, Psychology, Work
3 points by notpushkin 73 days ago | 0 comments
Ambsheets: Spreadsheets for Exploring Scenarios (inkandswitch.com)
Ambsheets is a research project about new kinds of spreadsheets for exploring possibility spaces and making better decisions.
Spreadsheets, Decision Making, Research, Tools
178 points by azhenley 80 days ago | 48 comments
Master the Art of the Product Manager 'No' (LetsNotDoThat.com)
Product Management, Communication, Decision Making
423 points by mikhaill 96 days ago | 167 comments
How to navigate and exit the idea maze (michaelrbock.com)
In 2020 when we were at the beginning of our startup journey I had a conversation with Erik Goldman where he shared this process, which we used to start Column Tax. I'll be forever grateful for Erik's time, and I thought it worthwhile to capture Erik's wisdom permanently online so others could benefit as much as I have.
Startup Advice, Entrepreneurship, Process, Decision Making
38 points by vortex_ape 98 days ago | 5 comments
When Is Insurance Worth It? (entropicthoughts.com)
TL;DR: If you want to know whether getting insurance is worth it, use the Kelly Insurance Calculator. If you want to know why or how, read on.
Insurance, Finance, Decision Making
32 points by kqr 129 days ago | 48 comments
The Focusing Illusion (optimallyirrational.com)
Cognitive Biases, Psychology, Decision Making
22 points by yamrzou 130 days ago | 1 comments
What Is Entropy? A Measure of Just How Little We Know (quantamagazine.org)
Exactly 200 years ago, a French engineer introduced an idea that would quantify the universe’s inexorable slide into decay. But entropy, as it’s currently understood, is less a fact about the world than a reflection of our growing ignorance. Embracing that truth is leading to a rethink of everything from rational decision-making to the limits of machines.
Physics, Information Theory, Science, Decision Making
6 points by rbanffy 133 days ago | 0 comments
The Two Big Games (overcomingbias.com)
Imagine a business meeting which will decide if a new project goes forward, or decide key priorities about it. There are two games that folks in this business might play re this meeting.
Business, Strategy, Decision Making, Meetings
11 points by jger15 145 days ago | 2 comments
My notes from deciding against AWS Lambda (jesseduffield.com)
At the start of the year I did a deep dive on AWS lambda to know whether it was worth using in a new codebase for a web app. These are the notes I wrote before making the decision against lambda, and I hope they can help somebody else with the same dilemma.
Cloud Computing, Serverless Computing, Web Development, Decision Making
13 points by SpookyChoice 146 days ago | 7 comments
How to Take Good Decisions? (ycombinator.com)
Hey everyone! I'm trying to get better at decision-making, both at work and in everyday life. Do you have any favorite books, articles, or courses that really helped you make better choices? I'd love any recommendations—whether it's practical tips, interesting frameworks, or just great reads. Thanks in advance!
Decision Making, Self Improvement, Personal Development, Productivity
18 points by rookie123 157 days ago | 20 comments
Show HN: Tinder, but to decide what to eat (whatdinner.com)
WhatDinner makes it easy for couples to decide on a meal together.
Dating Apps, Food, Relationships, Decision Making, Software
266 points by kiru_io 174 days ago | 222 comments
Accountability sinks (aworkinglibrary.com)
In The Unaccountability Machine, Dan Davies argues that organizations form “accountability sinks,” structures that absorb or obscure the consequences of a decision such that no one can be held directly accountable for it.
Accountability, Organizational Structure, Decision Making
517 points by l0b0 188 days ago | 306 comments
Focus on decisions, not tasks (technicalwriting.dev)
In technical communication, we don’t talk much about decision support; we talk about task support… In many cases, the information people need to complete their tasks is not information on how to operate machines, but information to support their decision making… simply documenting the procedures is never enough… What I am talking about is documenting the context, letting users know what decisions they must make, making them aware of the consequences, and, as far as possible, leading them to resources
Technical Writing, Decision Making, User Experience
298 points by kaycebasques 190 days ago | 61 comments
We avoid effort even though it can improve our well-being (newscientist.com)
Understanding the “effort paradox” can help you reshape your relationship to exertion so that you commit to those hard but truly meaningful activities
Psychology, Well-being, Motivation, Decision Making, Behavioral Economics
52 points by XzetaU8 205 days ago | 48 comments
Surprising sounds could cause riskier decision-making (news.yale.edu)
Yale researchers discovered that hearing an unexpected sound just before making a decision led people to make riskier choices.
Psychology, Decision Making, Research, Sound
19 points by amichail 209 days ago | 1 comments
Another Reason Why You Should Sleep on It Before Making an Important Decision (today.duke.edu)
Science proves, once again, that we are easily deceived by first impressions.
Decision Making, Psychology, Sleep, Science
43 points by gnabgib 215 days ago | 17 comments
Satisficing (wikipedia.org)
Satisficing is a decision-making strategy or cognitive heuristic that entails searching through the available alternatives until an acceptability threshold is met.
Decision Making, Cognitive Science, Heuristics
8 points by yamrzou 219 days ago | 1 comments
Principal–Agent Problem (wikipedia.org)
The principal–agent problem refers to the conflict in interests and priorities that arises when one person or entity (the "agent") takes actions on behalf of another person or entity (the "principal").
Economics, Game Theory, Decision Making
4 points by olalonde 224 days ago | 0 comments
Ask HN: As a founder, How do you overcome Analysis Paralysis? (ycombinator.com)
Ask HN: As a founder, How do you overcome Analysis Paralysis?
Founders, Startup Advice, Decision Making, Analysis Paralysis
9 points by jerawaj749 226 days ago | 7 comments
The layers of strategic thinking behind our everyday conversations (optimallyirrational.com)
One of the points I made in Optimally Irrational is how incredibly good we are at solving the complex problems we face in our lives. We are often oblivious to the feats we are achieving. There is hardly a better example than something we do every day: talking to each other.
Cognitive Science, Communication, Human Behavior, Decision Making
15 points by yamrzou 228 days ago | 0 comments