Gijs Verheijke

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Critical Thinking summary

24 June 2023 | Written: 19 Jan 2022

Summary page of Critical Thinking articles

This page contains a summary of some of my writing on critical thinking. This is orignally part of a set of onboarding and learning articles I wrote for the Notion workspace of my former company Ox Street. I'm republishing them now on my website, and hope they will help you!

Clarity

What is clarity? In a clear discussion, everyone is talking about the same thing, and agrees on what the problem is that is being is discussed, and what kind of result the conversation is trying to achieve.

If you end up in a discussion with poor clarity, stop and redefine the goal:

1. What is the Problem?
2. Agree to the Problem first and then Solve it
3. Everyone who participates in discussion shares responsibility to maintain Clarity

Suggested things to say to each other in discussions:

• What is the ‘So what’?
• Which data do you base this on?
• How does this data lead to the conclusion you propose?
• Hold on; I think we are plunging into the weeds here
• Wait a minute; this conversation is going off the rails

Articles on specific strategies and tricks for better thinking

• MECE (Mutually Exclusive, Collectively Exhaustive)
• Occam's Razor
• Logical Fallacies to know and love
• Sanity Check