Overpowered Metrics Eat Underspecified Goals
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Overpowered Metrics Eat Underspecified Goals
Too Much Efficiency Makes Everything Worse: Overfitting and the Strong Version of Goodhart's Law
Jascha Sohl-Dicksteinsohl-dickstein.github.ioThere’s a toolbox of reusable concepts for analyzing systems I would call “inadequate”—the causes of civilizational failure, some of which correspond to local opportunities to do better yourself. I shall, somewhat arbitrarily, sort these concepts into three larger categories: Decisionmakers who are not beneficiaries; Asymmetric information; and abo
... See moreEliezer Yudkowsky • Inadequate Equilibria
If individual leaders lose sight of the larger purpose and vision, they will tend to become a bit myopic in their focus on unit performance. In extreme cases, unit performance can outstrip the larger goals of the organization. Oddly enough, the more myopic or narrowing of focus, the more the number of priorities is likely to grow.
David Allen • Workarounds That Work: How to Conquer Anything That Stands in Your Way at Work
When the future is uncertain, the neat parameters of rigid goal-setting frameworks are of little help; it feels like throwing darts without a target to aim at.
Anne-Laure Le Cunff • Tiny Experiments: How to Live Freely in a Goal-Obsessed World
As you scale, you realize, “Huh, I really need more of these.” And the danger is getting too process-y instead of outlining the objectives so people understand, “Okay, we’re doing this for this reason.” It’s almost like you want to provide more context versus trying to exert more control. Because maybe in a very autocratic, hierarchical, bureaucrat
... See moreElad Gil • High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups From 10 to 10,000 People
The main lesson we’ve learned is that you can almost never optimize directly for a goal—instead, you’re usually optimizing for something that looks like your goal but is slightly different. It’s a proxy.
Because you have to optimize for a proxy, when you optimize too much, you get too good at maximizing your proxy objective—which often takes you far... See more
Because you have to optimize for a proxy, when you optimize too much, you get too good at maximizing your proxy objective—which often takes you far... See more