The handout to accompany my talk on cognitive biases and retrospectives.

1. The Saboteur in Your Retrospectives
The Handout
REMEMBER!
Awareness isyourprimarytool infightingbias!
DO:
 Actuallytalktootherpeople andfindoutwhattheyvalue,andwhattheirexternal circumstancesare.(Narrative
Bias,AttributionErrors)
 Be empathetictowardsotherpeople.(NarrativeBias,AttributionErrors)
 Rememberthatthe fartheran actionisfrom itseffects,the lesslikelyitisthatyour intuitionwill connectthe
dots. (Narrative Bias)
 Recastpeople inyouroutgroupsas yourally.(AttributionErrors,EgocentricBias)
 Recordopinionsbefore discussion.(AnchoringandFramingEffects)
 Vote ontopicsto discuss.(AnchoringandFramingEffects)
 Focuson the thingsyour teamcan actuallycontrol.(Illusionof Control)
 Recordyour team’s decisions,andwhatinformationledyoutomake them.(HindsightBias)
 Make sure youand your teamknowyourpurpose.(EgocentricBias)
 Buildtrustin yourteamand become BiasBuddies.(BiasBias)
DON’T:
 Be satisfiedwithexplanationsof eventsthatblame aperson.(Narrative Bias)
 Fall preyto the posthoc ergo propterhocfallacy.(Narrative Bias)
 Use framesthatare strictlypositive ornegativewhenproposingideas.(FramingEffect)
 Try to use complex processesorevenyourknowledgeof biasestomanipulatepeople.(Illusionof Control)
 Feel badbecause you“shouldhave known”something.(HindsightBias)
 Procrastinate bycontinuingtoseekmore informationwhenyoudon’tneedit.(InformationBias)
 Make decisionsunderpressure!Cognitive loadmakesyou more likelytoacceptSystem1’s outputwithout
checkingitfirst.(All Cognitive Biases)
LAST BUT NOT LEAST!
If you do picka “spiritanimal”foryour System1, don’tkidyourself –it’sstill apart of you.Takingtime to remember
that periodicallywill preventyoufromdevelopingabadcase of self-loathing.
RESOURCES
 Thinking,Fastand Slow – Daniel Kahneman
 You AreNot So Smart – DavidMcRaney
 You AreNowLess Dumb – DavidMcRaney
 The Hidden Brain – ShankarVedantam
 The Wikipedialistof Cognitive Biases
• Chase downthe primarysources!A lotof the studiesare inPDFformat forfree!