PSTM: Meaning, Certainty, and Questions

The Idea: 99% of things don’t matter.

There are three questions that really help cut through all the BS:
What is it?

How do you know?

What does it mean?

Someone comes up to you and tells you that another team member didn’t do as good a job training as they should, I immediately go into detection mode:What is it? 
“So you got this report from the trainee? Might there be a different angle there, some reason they’d say that? Did they not get along with the trainer?”
How do you know?
“You didn’t witness this…you heard it second hand? Why did she not tell us herself? Was there any negative signs of the trainer’s conduct before this feedback?”
What does it mean?
“If it’s all true: did he have an off day? Should we remove him from the training team? If it isn’t as bad as she portrayed: Is she a troublemaker? Why didn’t she tell us herself? Did we make a mistake in hiring her? Or are we getting lucky in finally having someone brave enough to speak up?”

Every bit of info has a thousand branching paths. Most are meaningless. Most that have meaning don’t matter that much. There are always two sides. There’s always another deeper level.

The Advice: find a situation you can clarify by exploring: what is it, how do you know, and what does it mean?