(This was initially meant as part of this post[1], but I thought it didn’t make a lot of sense there, so I pulled it out.)
“Slow-rolling mistakes” are usually much more important to identify than “point-in-time blunders,”[2] but the latter tend to be more obvious.
When we think about “mistakes”, we usually imagine replying-all when we meant to reply only to the sender, using the wrong input in an analysis, including broken hyperlinks in a piece of media, missing a deadline, etc. I tend to feel pretty horrible when I notice that I’ve made a mistake like this.
I now think that basically none of my mistakes of this kind — I’ll call them “Point-in-time blunders” — mattered nearly as much as other “mistakes” I’ve made by doing things like planning my time poorly, delaying for too long on something, setting up poor systems, or focusing on the wrong things.
This second kind of mistake — let’s use the phrase “slow-rolling mistakes” — is harder to catch; I think sometimes I’d identify them by noticing a nagging worry, or by having multiple conversations with someone who disagreed with me (and slowly changing my mind), or by seriously reflecting on my work or on feedback I’d received.
...
This is not a novel insight, but I think it was an important thing for me to realize. Working at CEA helped move me in this direction. A big factor in this, I think, was the support and reassurance I got from people I worked with.
This was over two years ago, but I still remember my stomach dropping when I realized that instead of using “EA Forum Digest #84” as the subject line for the 84th Digest, I had used “...#85.” Then I did it AGAIN a few weeks later (instead of #89). I’ve screenshotted Ben’s (my manager’s) reaction.
It was there because my role gave me the opportunity to actually notice a lot of the mistakes I was making (something that I think is harder if you’re working on something like research, or in a less public role), which also meant I could reflect on them.
“Slow-rolling mistakes” are usually much more important to identify than “point-in-time blunders”
After reading your post, I wasn’t sure you were right about this. But after thinking about it for a few minutes, I can’t come up with any serious mistakes I’ve made that were “point-in-time blunders”.
The closest thing I can think of is when I accidentally donated $20,000 to the GiveWell Community Foundation instead of The Clear Fund (aka GiveWell), but fortunately they returned the money so it all worked out.
A note on mistakes and how we relate to them
(This was initially meant as part of this post[1], but I thought it didn’t make a lot of sense there, so I pulled it out.)
“Slow-rolling mistakes” are usually much more important to identify than “point-in-time blunders,”[2] but the latter tend to be more obvious.
When we think about “mistakes”, we usually imagine replying-all when we meant to reply only to the sender, using the wrong input in an analysis, including broken hyperlinks in a piece of media, missing a deadline, etc. I tend to feel pretty horrible when I notice that I’ve made a mistake like this.
I now think that basically none of my mistakes of this kind — I’ll call them “Point-in-time blunders” — mattered nearly as much as other “mistakes” I’ve made by doing things like planning my time poorly, delaying for too long on something, setting up poor systems, or focusing on the wrong things.
This second kind of mistake — let’s use the phrase “slow-rolling mistakes” — is harder to catch; I think sometimes I’d identify them by noticing a nagging worry, or by having multiple conversations with someone who disagreed with me (and slowly changing my mind), or by seriously reflecting on my work or on feedback I’d received.
...
This is not a novel insight, but I think it was an important thing for me to realize. Working at CEA helped move me in this direction. A big factor in this, I think, was the support and reassurance I got from people I worked with.
This was over two years ago, but I still remember my stomach dropping when I realized that instead of using “EA Forum Digest #84” as the subject line for the 84th Digest, I had used “...#85.” Then I did it AGAIN a few weeks later (instead of #89). I’ve screenshotted Ben’s (my manager’s) reaction.
...
I discussed some related topics in a short EAG talk I gave last year, and also touched on these topics in my post about “invisible impact loss”.
An image from that talk.
It was there because my role gave me the opportunity to actually notice a lot of the mistakes I was making (something that I think is harder if you’re working on something like research, or in a less public role), which also meant I could reflect on them.
If you have better terms for these, I’d love suggestions!
After reading your post, I wasn’t sure you were right about this. But after thinking about it for a few minutes, I can’t come up with any serious mistakes I’ve made that were “point-in-time blunders”.
The closest thing I can think of is when I accidentally donated $20,000 to the GiveWell Community Foundation instead of The Clear Fund (aka GiveWell), but fortunately they returned the money so it all worked out.