Day 25: Mastering Cognitive Biases as an Engineering Leader
Be Better Engineering Leader, a 30 Days Series
This is the fifth week of a series of daily lessons on how to Be a Better Engineering Leader. I recommend spending up to an hour on each lesson to gain insights into Product, Technology, and People—areas critical for every Engineering Manager.
As an engineering leader, your biggest challenge isn't solving technical problems—it's dealing with human nature.
Cognitive biases are mental shortcuts that can skew our judgment, leading to suboptimal decisions. While you can’t eliminate them, you can learn to recognize and manage them, both in yourself and your team.
Key Cognitive Biases to Watch Out For
System 1 and System 2 Thinking (After book “Thinking Fast And Slow” by D. Kahneman):
System 1: Fast, intuitive, and emotional thinking.
System 2: Slow, deliberate, and logical thinking.
Action: Identify situations where you or your team default to System 1 (quick decisions). Create “thinking time” during critical decision-making to allow for System 2 engagement. For instance, during sprint planning, encourage the team to take a few minutes of quiet reflection before voting on story points.
Snap Judgments
Quickly forming opinions based on incomplete information.
Action: Before making decisions in high-pressure situations, pause and ask yourself, “What additional information would I want if I had more time?” This simple question can prompt you to seek more data or perspectives.
Confirmation Bias
Seeking information that confirms pre-existing beliefs.
Action: During your next technical review, assign someone to play the role of “devil’s advocate.” This person’s job is to challenge assumptions and suggest alternative perspectives, fostering a more balanced discussion.
Halo Effect
Allowing one positive trait to overshadow all other qualities.
Action: When evaluating team members, use a structured evaluation framework. Separate personal opinions from performance metrics. For example, during performance reviews, focus on key deliverables, problem-solving skills, and collaborative behaviors, rather than how likeable or charismatic someone is.
Exaggerated Emotional Coherence
Letting strong emotions influence your judgment about specific projects or people.
Action: Use a structured framework like the PR/FAQ document to evaluate initiatives objectively. Separate the emotional appeal of an idea from its strategic value and ROI.
Availability Heuristic
Overestimating the importance of recent events or vivid examples.
Action: Keep a log of decisions and incidents. Review it periodically to ensure you’re basing decisions on a comprehensive view of the situation, not just recent memory. This is particularly useful during post-mortems or performance reviews.
Denominator Neglect
Ignoring the context of statistics (e.g., 100 errors may seem high, but is it really, compared to total transactions?).
Action: Always normalize data when presenting metrics. For example, if reporting bugs, include the number of user sessions or API calls to provide a complete picture.
Task: Identify and Mitigate Biases
Take 30 minutes today to reflect on a recent decision where things didn’t go as planned. Identify at least two cognitive biases that may have influenced the outcome. Write down how you will address these biases in the future.
Use the following questions as a guide:
Which biases were at play?
How did they influence your decision or the team’s behavior?
What steps can you take to minimize their impact next time?
Extra Resources
Premium Article: Cognitive Biases for Engineering Leaders
Visualization: Cognitive Bias Codex
Book Recommendation: Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman.
Final Thoughts
Awareness of cognitive biases is a powerful tool for any leader. By recognizing and addressing these biases, you can make more balanced, effective decisions for yourself and your team. Remember, the goal isn’t to eliminate biases, but to mitigate their influence on your decision-making.
Stay conscious and keep leading effectively!
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Love this. Right up my street.