Comment by hammock

This is the difference between engineering and knowledge work.

Manufacturing lines have tight tolerances. Science has 95% confidence intervals (or greater). HFT has fractional pennies to steamroll up. But “business” (broadly), leadership, macro decisions 3+ steps removed from the coal face can safely operate at wider tolerances.

I cringe whenever I see “xx.xx% growth” on a report as if the value in that hundredth of a percent place is going to sway anyone’s opinion one way or the other. It’s superfluous, wasteful and I would argue, harmful.

The U.S. Marines teach the “70% solution” which says that making a decision that is 70% correct now is better than making a 100% correct decision later.

The speed of your OODA loops is critically important, and cannot be overlooked or expensed in favor of determinism, predictability etc for its own sake. (After all “no plan survives first contact”)