I really like Hillel Wayne’s idea of expressing all tradeoffs solely in terms of costs. I’m going to try it next time I document trade-offs: https://buttondown.email/hillelwayne/archive/ive-been-thinking-about-tradeoffs-all-wrong/

@norootcause this is brilliant, and aligns well with my oft-cited rule 46: Every new capability carries with it a corresponding risk; the newer the technology involved, the harder it is to assess downstream risks. "When you invent the ship, you invent the shipwreck." -- Paul Virilio

Orgs generally get excited about capabilities long before they consider risks, and since everything is a tradeoff, helping people think about the drawbacks in *every* option helps them avoid having to revisit a decision later because they didn’t do so early on

@norootcause Me too, I love thinking about Opportunity Costs.

@dtauvdiodr @norootcause Same. I like opportunity costs, future decrease in marginal costs & Jevon’s paradox, and migration costs if/when we figure out it’s no longer suitable.

It didn’t occur to me when I read Hillel’s newsletter initially, but it’s similar reasoning to my rule of thumb to not trust people who can’t tell me what the downsides are to what they’re recommending.

RE: https://hachyderm.io/@norootcause/112587448560517097