Change in our world continues to accelerate, most recently driven by cognitive machines. 1 Machines are learning to do tasks once thought innately human. They beat us at our games, turn photos into paintings, and write passable poetry. Today, unlike ever before, we assume a machine can do anything a human can do. Once we’ve imagined a new what, we go very quickly to thinking about how. That is, before we understand precisely what we’re trying to solve, we dive head first into solving it. The human tendency to let how get before what is well known to software developers. During a job interview, a key skill that’s measured is requirements-gathering. When the interviewer poses a problem, she intentionally leaves out information that’s necessary to answer the question. The interviewee needs to remind himself to check his assumptions and ask clarifying questions before he starts to solve the problem. In traditional software development, algorithms are expected to be 100% accurate. 2 Consequently, the what… Read More