Edge Cases and Flexibility

in #hive-167922last month

One risk when you make a plan is that it is too inflexible, and, while the plan looked fine when you made it, as conditions change in the future, as edge cases appear you didn't foresee, it is no longer a good route to push on, or it needs serious adjustments.


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Now we have two possibilities. If the person following the plan is stubborn and keeps pushing with the original plan, despite becoming clear at some point that the direction is wrong, it is very likely the plan fails or it produces lots of damages toward the end when it is followed despite going in the wrong direction.

If the person is flexible and adjusts the plan to the new reality, or if the plan itself is flexible from the start (much better), there is a chance it will still be carried on despite set backs or edge cases, without major issues.

Now, if a person adjusts a plan that is under way, how do they know they are thinking straight and not making decisions based on their emotions? What if the initial plan was sound and they can't see it anymore with the same eyes as when the plan was drafted?

That's a good question, I believe. Normally, the initial plan should remain the focus, if it was made when things were "cool" and judgement unclouded by emotions.

But the way I see it, if a medium-long term plan is changed because it was poorly made, is too inflexible or doesn't correspond to the existing reality, the change should not be taken lightly, in the rush of a moment. This can be different for trading, but we are not talking about this.

I believe at least a good night sleep is required before confirming the decision to change a plan that is on-going. Sometimes a longer period of analyzing and pondering the various options can be useful.

Of course, the best thing would be to have a great plan in place from the start. That's why it is important to take your time when you make your plans initially. But even when you take your time, you will rarely account for all the variables that are involved.

A little unrelated to the bulk of the post, I wonder how do AI handle edge cases nowadays? For example in self-driving. Have they gotten any better at it? There may come a day when AIs could plan and execute better than most humans on their domains of expertise. On the planning part I have my doubts. What if they hallucinate when making the plan?

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Plans are nothing more than a guideline. Things will happen that you don't restrict. I honestly think that AI is getting better but I think it will take more time to become better. It's not at a level that can replace things yet.

Plans are nothing more than a guideline.

Maybe a little more than that. If we downgrade them to simple guidelines, they are easy to dismiss and sometimes that's not a good idea, one just needs to push harder or try different things to make them happen.

I honestly think that AI is getting better but I think it will take more time to become better. It's not at a level that can replace things yet.

If we require of them perfection, I agree. If the end result can be so-so, but more efficiently than humans would produce the same results, I believe they are already in measure to replace quite a few things.

In this way, I feel the best thing to do when planning is make sure that your head is straight and you’re not being emotional for any reason and that is the best time you can put up a plan by making sure that you can as well change the plan whenever it is needed

That's true, plans are made (and changed) when you are not emotional, if possible.

It's always important to not make big decisions without sleeping on them first. Making a long term decision in the heat of the moment will more often than not lead into utter disaster. And to your flexibility point, I think one should always allow flexibility in an planning. I've had business decision I've made required a whole lot of flexibility because circumstances will always change.

On the AI issue I think people are finally starting to understand that it's an advanced search engine. It has a long way to go and I'm not sure I would fully trust it to drive my vehicle. Who knows, maybe someday just not yet...

Making a long term decision in the heat of the moment will more often than not lead into utter disaster.

Exactly. Especially if you go from one extreme to the other, but even for smaller adjustments sometimes.

And to your flexibility point, I think one should always allow flexibility in an planning. I've had business decision I've made required a whole lot of flexibility because circumstances will always change.

Circumstances are rarely predictable 100%. That's why if we don't allow for some flexibility in our plans, they are likely to backfire at some point.

On the AI issue I think people are finally starting to understand that it's an advanced search engine. It has a long way to go and I'm not sure I would fully trust it to drive my vehicle. Who knows, maybe someday just not yet...

Well, not all AIs are the generative kind that have captured the interest of most people lately. An AI capable of self-driving is not one of this type, as it needs both precision and ability to deal with edge cases. I'm not sure how good they became at this, but they certainly can't afford any hallucinations, like the generative kind.