Compulsories, Evidence Gathering

By wcrdadmin on Tue, 02/16/2010 - 01:58

Compulsories⁺ are what we expect researchers to show before they’ll be free to do the really fun science...

The Compulsories ensure individuals understand the springs of personal bias, work to develop a deep contextual understanding of their subject matter, and understand the limits to claims of truth based on experimental results. Individuals who have not mastered the compulsories can still work on blockbuster⁺ pursuits, but will more often be told what to do. They will not experience the exhilaration and personal satisfaction that come from true freedom of research. They will always be working under someone else’s terms.

The Compulsories

Understand and work to minimize personal biases and insecurities

Evidence Gathering is the home for Critical Thinking⁺. This is a very well-studied academic discipline that aims to reduce bias and misconceptions in our analysis of evidence. If evidence is the coin of the realm for R&D, the currency with which we conduct R&D transactions, then Critical Thinking is our protection from counterfeiting. Each assertion of truth is supported by an overarching discipline that gives customers (i.e., decision makers) a sense that the assertion is free of personal bias and ambition and that we have learned to recognize and correct for common pitfalls in specific types of evidence (e.g., Mirror-Image Humans Walk Among Us.)

Understand and work to minimize bias in co-investigators and customer surrogates
Develop a deep contextual understanding in an area of research
Understand and respect the boundaries of tiers of evidence⁺

Discussion

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Compulsories are more personal than procedural

It’s a passion for the pursuit that forces researchers to want to master the compulsories just so they can be free of artificial constraints. As a researcher the thrill is to do something no one else has done, either in the science or in the procedures. But with industrial R&D this means we must have the assent of those who will make decisions about our work. Show us you want to be free, along with the responsibilities of freedom, and you will be allowed to pursue your passions.

We expect team members to have a mastery of procedural skills before they are hired. Now we need them to demonstrate a mastery of themselves

The Compulsories are not a dry listing of rules or a set of definitions to be learned by mnemonics. These are worldviews: a special approach to the task of industrial R&D. The ‘test’ if there ever is one will come during those key behavioral moments⁺, and it will be experiential, not written. It’s easy to behave when all is going well. Let’s see how you react when your favorite research project is about to go down in flames.

Master the compulsories and we can concentrate on your results, not how you arrived at the results

We will have a common understanding of how the evidence was gathered, not from a procedural perspective, rather from a personal perspective. As a researcher you reliably demonstrate mastery of your own cognitive biases and of those around you.

Stages of Growth

There are two stages of growth in a researcher

1. Science, training, internship, expertise, experience; and 2. Seasoned judgment, intuition, unstinting diligence and valued second opinions. Stage one researchers aim for mastery of the compulsories. Stage two researchers⁺ consistently demonstrate a mastery of the compulsories and can exercise judgment and intuition in their interpretation of the evidence. They demonstrate a responsibility that allows them to work outside the artificial boundaries. Great improvements in effectiveness come when large numbers of researchers reach Stage Two: freestyle⁺ R&D.

More Core Arguments for Evidence Gathering

Navigation:

There, Evidence Gathering

Glossary:

Compulsories, Researcher Career Stages

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