I tried to use the nuclear-powered submarine as one of those cases which definitely require perfection as those cases most certainly exist, jim. Laser surgery in my eyes comes to mind and I should have mentioned it. But I am worried we are using other case in the same way which is not appropriate as you note. Truth is the range exists but the paralysis of our system is concerning as well.oddly, it was not the column I embarked on.
One of the hardest things to teach to young Air Force officers was comfort level in decision making. I think the goal for everyone is to make the right or correct decision when the time comes. I've found that the younger, less experienced the officer was, the longer they would delay in making the decision. They would spend more time doing research, gathering data that would help to inform their decision with the goal of "getting it right." Officers who had been around a while and had some battle scars from experience were much more comfortable making decisions quicker with much less information. Clearly some decisions require instant action (life or death situations) while others can be examined in more depth. For "routine" issues, my comfort zone was somewhere between 50 to 60% of available information; i.e., once I got in that range, I was generally comfortable. Anything less than that invoked the "gut feeling" decision. Anything more than that resulted in much greater comfort but also required more time.
The other interesting aspect to this point is the various professions / jobs and how perfect or right does one need to be? This is especially relevant to me as I've always been kind of a "B+" student. So in many cases, I was happy with things not being perfect. But, other professions can't get away with that. I kind of want the fire department to put out 100% of the fire...not just being satisfied with 70% as a passing grade. Same with surgeons... they should be 100%. Airplane mechanics...also 100% effort required. I can't imagine having a job where the expectation is perfection all the time. And yet, those professions are out there and we generally have that expectation. It's not realistic as people do make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes have very grave consequences.
I tried to use the nuclear-powered submarine as one of those cases which definitely require perfection as those cases most certainly exist, jim. Laser surgery in my eyes comes to mind and I should have mentioned it. But I am worried we are using other case in the same way which is not appropriate as you note. Truth is the range exists but the paralysis of our system is concerning as well.oddly, it was not the column I embarked on.
One of the hardest things to teach to young Air Force officers was comfort level in decision making. I think the goal for everyone is to make the right or correct decision when the time comes. I've found that the younger, less experienced the officer was, the longer they would delay in making the decision. They would spend more time doing research, gathering data that would help to inform their decision with the goal of "getting it right." Officers who had been around a while and had some battle scars from experience were much more comfortable making decisions quicker with much less information. Clearly some decisions require instant action (life or death situations) while others can be examined in more depth. For "routine" issues, my comfort zone was somewhere between 50 to 60% of available information; i.e., once I got in that range, I was generally comfortable. Anything less than that invoked the "gut feeling" decision. Anything more than that resulted in much greater comfort but also required more time.
The other interesting aspect to this point is the various professions / jobs and how perfect or right does one need to be? This is especially relevant to me as I've always been kind of a "B+" student. So in many cases, I was happy with things not being perfect. But, other professions can't get away with that. I kind of want the fire department to put out 100% of the fire...not just being satisfied with 70% as a passing grade. Same with surgeons... they should be 100%. Airplane mechanics...also 100% effort required. I can't imagine having a job where the expectation is perfection all the time. And yet, those professions are out there and we generally have that expectation. It's not realistic as people do make mistakes. Sometimes those mistakes have very grave consequences.