It’s a fair critique. I use “legible” in this way, and I don’t really want to give it up, and I think it’s not too bad jargon-wise because even non-EA people seem to understand it without too much prefixing with definition.
Your alternatives don’t quite capture the idea right:
If I were to set a “clear” or “understandable” goal, I would expect people to be able to make sense of the goal statement but not necessarily see what KPIs went into it.
“Verifiable” is the opposite: I would expect people to expect that they could check whether or not we made the goal, but not simply read it and get it
The closest is “clear and verifiable” but it’s three words—and “legible” is still better, because it points at a more system-1-ish implementation of clarity and verifiability.
Thanks for the pushback! I agree that the specific meaning you’re outlining isn’t captured by any of my alternatives. That said, part of my issue is that I don’t think EAs consistently use it that way: if you search “legible” on the Forum, I think a lot of the instances are essentially just synonyms for “clear”. If people used “legible” when they meant “clear and verifiable” and used “clear” when they meant “clear”, I’d be on board with that.
Even if the status quo continues, I don’t think it’s the end of the world or anything. I just sometimes feel like we’re using jargon because it makes us feel cool rather than to facilitate communication, and that gives me some weird vibes.
It’s a fair critique. I use “legible” in this way, and I don’t really want to give it up, and I think it’s not too bad jargon-wise because even non-EA people seem to understand it without too much prefixing with definition.
Your alternatives don’t quite capture the idea right:
If I were to set a “clear” or “understandable” goal, I would expect people to be able to make sense of the goal statement but not necessarily see what KPIs went into it.
“Verifiable” is the opposite: I would expect people to expect that they could check whether or not we made the goal, but not simply read it and get it
The closest is “clear and verifiable” but it’s three words—and “legible” is still better, because it points at a more system-1-ish implementation of clarity and verifiability.
Thanks for the pushback! I agree that the specific meaning you’re outlining isn’t captured by any of my alternatives. That said, part of my issue is that I don’t think EAs consistently use it that way: if you search “legible” on the Forum, I think a lot of the instances are essentially just synonyms for “clear”. If people used “legible” when they meant “clear and verifiable” and used “clear” when they meant “clear”, I’d be on board with that.
Even if the status quo continues, I don’t think it’s the end of the world or anything. I just sometimes feel like we’re using jargon because it makes us feel cool rather than to facilitate communication, and that gives me some weird vibes.