AmiSight 9/24: When Do You Go Pencils Down?
A couple of days ago, I wrote about the importance of letting a decision wait until tomorrow. I meant it. But there is another side to that advice: eventually, you have to go pencils down.
I think this is becoming particularly important in the age of AI. We now have an incredible ability to keep asking more questions, running more scenarios, challenging more assumptions, and looking for one more piece of information. That can be incredibly useful. It can also drive you into analysis paralysis.
I’m certainly guilty of it. There is always one more question I can ask or one more angle I can explore. At some point, though, I have to recognize that more analysis isn’t necessarily going to lead to a better decision.
We should give important decisions the time and thought they deserve. But we also have to accept that we are almost always making decisions with imperfect information. There probably isn’t going to be a moment when every question is answered and all the uncertainty disappears.
So part of making a good decision is deciding when you have enough. Put the pencils down. Make the call. And move on.
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