I’d been thinking very much the same recently, and how many tricks the movement is missing.
I started writing a blog about what EA could learn from Management Science/Operational Research—a field that is essentially EA without the A. It’s all about effective, rational decision making and has developed a wide array of tools for tackling ‘how’.
As a consequence, it often feels to me that EA is where Management Science was in the 60s with regards tools and lenses, and debates. Those have now long subsided. Trying to cover 50-60 years of a field’s voultion meant what was meant to be a short blog quickly became quite a burgeoning essay—I’ll get back to it.
Although the tools of Management Science are of immediate use, it’s actually the lenses and frameworks that have more value. Frames on pluralism, systems, emergence, reductionism, epistemology, and interpretism, even its critical turn in the 90s.
Separately, a great project management book that might interest you is ‘How Big Things Get Done’. Bent Flyjberg’s ideas of reference classes would be of especial interest to EAs, as well as much of his other writing on risk, power, rationality and the scientific method.
I’d been thinking very much the same recently, and how many tricks the movement is missing.
I started writing a blog about what EA could learn from Management Science/Operational Research—a field that is essentially EA without the A. It’s all about effective, rational decision making and has developed a wide array of tools for tackling ‘how’.
As a consequence, it often feels to me that EA is where Management Science was in the 60s with regards tools and lenses, and debates. Those have now long subsided. Trying to cover 50-60 years of a field’s voultion meant what was meant to be a short blog quickly became quite a burgeoning essay—I’ll get back to it.
Although the tools of Management Science are of immediate use, it’s actually the lenses and frameworks that have more value. Frames on pluralism, systems, emergence, reductionism, epistemology, and interpretism, even its critical turn in the 90s.
Separately, a great project management book that might interest you is ‘How Big Things Get Done’. Bent Flyjberg’s ideas of reference classes would be of especial interest to EAs, as well as much of his other writing on risk, power, rationality and the scientific method.
Look forward to reading this blog, Mark!
Cool! Would be keen to sign on to a mailing list :)