Managing Expectations
<p>Managing a problem may not be the same thing as solving one. We explore how both mental models can lead to a healthier workplace dynamic and how to manage expectations beset by the manager, whose job is to run a company by setting unreasonable goals and figuring out how to manage the problems they bring, versus an accountant, software engineer, or lawyer, down the reporting line. Their job is to actually figure out how to solve these problems. We will also explore the healthy synergy that emerges from these distinct traits.</p>
<h1>Mental Model #1: Chaos Dynamics</h1>
<h2>Use cases: Troubleshooting, brainstorming, debugging, designing</h2>
<p>Chaos dynamics explains how one change can have unpredictable consequences throughout a complex unknowable system. The results of these consequences, or “leaks” as I like to call them result in hours of troubleshooting, painstaking research and putting out of spontaneous fires.</p>
<p>This mental model applies to the person doing the nitty-gritty work of “actually” solving a problem. Whether that involves pouring through manuals, research cases and legal codes, or troubleshooting a software or accounting system, these people form the body of every functioning organization.</p>
<p>In the real world, chaos dynamics trains us to behave spontaneously, to quickly counter abrupt unforeseen happenings at work. As a software engineer, the results of being spontaneous, novel minded and multi-pronged are that problems are solved much faster. Every new idea or solution that comes to mind, you chance upon.</p>
<p><a href="https://medium.com/predict/managing-expectations-e60ea7a1acc1"><strong>Read More</strong></a></p>