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  I enjoy meeting people, and I absolutely love public speaking in tech. This is such a wonderful part of my work that I feel privileged to do But for the love of god please CAN WE STOP 😩😩😩😩😩 with introduction handshakes. It's nothing personal but I'm on an immunosuppressant 😩😩😩😩😩 and I do not want to shake anybody's hand

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  Building frameworks with experts going through rounds of consensus (e.g., Delphi panels), is thought to be a good way to elicit rigorous consensus frameworks. However, I have participated in multiple Delphi panels, and I am not convinced they are. I think they can veer toward mediocre flattening

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  Ashley and I have been having a very interesting conversation about the pitfalls of thinking about biology & specifically bio re: health when it comes to very smart folks who have a "biohacking" kind of approach to things. I have been thinking it might be a good Change, Technically episode topic Not about cranks or conspiracists, but those of us who try really hard and want to intervene on our health for the better and the difficulty of weighing evidence in bio

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  Our very dear friend and brilliant neuroscientist Matt got a NATURE PAPER look at these little fish you guys https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-11041-1

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@animesh/116685030985963198 I like this paper but the strangest part of its impact to me is the general idea people seem to take from it that we cannot form our mental models when we haven't created something ourselves, when in fact, the core architecture of how human beings form mental models and test hypotheses about them is essentially all evolved for understanding a world we didn't create ourselves

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  RE: https://mastodon.social/@grimalkina/117294962029919899 I might never get better but my wife and I have put together a lot of scientific documentation to try to get this particular coverage policy that has impacted me changed at her employer and that is a thing we did even if it doesn't work

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  me: so let's think about levers to change a policy-- very online ppl: ENSHITTIFICATION me: uh, maybe...but also there are specific ways this-- very online ppl: ENSHITTIFICATION IT'S A CABAL me: well idk it's also many interacting factors and if you look at how change has previously been made-- very online ppl: HOPELESS. LATE STAGE CAPITALISM. ENSHITTIFICATION. YOU'RE JUST TALKING ABOUT ENSHITTIFICATION me: ok I'm trying to talk about a specific-- very online ppl: EN...

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  It took EIGHT appointments, over $1000 (that's after insurance), and loads of time and stress. And I raised the thing we needed to look at in the very first appointment and every subsequent one. Now, I don't dispute the need to not leap to assumptions. Perhaps there really are many drivers of Symptom Y. But not even *considering* Condition A? A real failure. Doctors' appointments are subject to anchoring effects, perhaps worse than any single high-stakes reasoning moment I&#3...

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  Ten minutes of trying to help someone do a thing you want to happen is worth ten days of screaming on social media about the things you wish weren't happening

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  Insurance just denied a medication I take every single day because, and I quote, the provider did not submit new notes that it was working well 🙄

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  RE: https://toot.cafe/@revin/117017514982367070 I will tell you what this was also the worst moment when I was writing the book because I FORGOT THE REFERENCES COUNTED TOWARD THE WORD COUNT but we made it 💞🥰

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  A huge, huge pet peeve of mine as an intervention scientist is "checklists" or "codes" that just say: "having a problem? Don't" I loathe them. Stuff like, "never get lost, always know where you are" ok like that is not solving the getting lost problem

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  Highlights from touring the Allen Institute included their lil data center lit colorfully which apparently helps heat the building in winter! Postcard from the future

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  I can send out media copies of my book! What tech focused media do you read? 👀

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  SEATTLE friends: Cat-in-real-life alert! I am in Seattle this week and decided to host a small (limited spots) Psychology of Software Teams happy hour this thursday July 30th, 4-6pm. You can come, leave whenever you want, zero expectation, just wanted to talk about human stuff with humans of tech. RSVP here for location & to secure a spot: https://luma.com/lxcmtn68

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  sappy post incoming, but

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  Imagine you walk into a lab because you've generously agreed to participate in a psychology experiment. It's pleasant: first you're shown a series of paintings and you indicate your preference for a certain artist, and you're told the paintings you saw were from two artists, and you mostly prefer Kandinsky over Klee. How nice! But there's a twist.

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  I'm about to ask you to do something for me that I will never see if I can possibly help it. I'm going to go out of my way to try to make sure I never see it. An invisible gift is what I'm asking for. Let me explain!

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  One of my teacher friends often says that people confuse "few people are able to do x" with "x reveals who is good" and I think about that a lot

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  RE: https://wandering.shop/@dreid/116947735914529055 Ostensibly about work Secretly about feeling more ok at work

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  It's launch week for The Psychology of Software Teams and to pour even more fuel into your personal launch I have written a full BOOK CLUB GUIDE! It can be used as a solo workbook, OR a group discussion guide Included are: - companion resources to talks, open access studies, and interviews to dive deeper - psychology-based exercises (the "try it" prompts) to bring active learning to your reading - facilitator notes Free for you to use, share, remix, adapt 🎉 https://catha...

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  You know what, if you are a FOSS bro angrily private messaging me multiple times to say you can't believe I haven't responded to your request for free labor within 24 hours of you leaving that request on social media, and besides that not being the relationship we have it's also during those specific 24 hours that I am on the phone trying to triage my loved one's adverse reaction to chemo, you have definitely succeeded at getting my attention and ensuring you will be remembered.

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  I am going to go spend some time soon helping care for a loved one going through chemo. This is someone who otherwise lives alone so it will just be me. If you've been through this (either side) I'd love to hear if there are any small tips you have for how to be there for someone going through chemo, daily "comfort" things that you discovered or that might be overlooked. Things to do that help make this time bearable, sustainable, just little joys of life. Thanks <3

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  Last weekend I spent a couple of hours sitting with friends with rare/uncommon diagnoses and tracing their diagnostic paths and the evidence and clues that emerged early. Every step along the way it was just so clear how tough all of this is

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  Can you make a difference in the world by going out, finding a place where you could sit for a while, and talking to people about the human problems they were struggling with, and then using the skills you have to try to tell that story and make it more legible to the world and to the people who could help? I thought so years ago when I decided to self-fund an interview study where I listened to developers talk about why they felt unseen and undersupported as learners.

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  'Tis the last day to preorder The Psychology of Software Teams! By ordering today you'll join the POST advance squad which comes with benefits like a) I remember every early post forever b) bragging rights c) enormous increases to your persuasion d) a faint glowing aura https://www.drcathicks.com/#book

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  Are wardley maps just a special case of DAGs

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  Me: I will make a cute little book club guide for my book Me 27 pages deep into a guide with facilitator notes and psychology-based exercises: wait I should add multimedia companion resources

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  I love living in the "Gender... MAYBE NOT" era of science https://www.thetransmitter.org/sex-differences/brains-sex-differences-are-subtle-and-contradictory-large-mri-study-finds/

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  Can you, as one person, possibly make a difference in whether an unusual, creative, category-breaking book (a book without a marketing department or a budget behind it) succeeds? Yes you can, and I'm going to tell you why it's a hell of a lot more attainable than you think.