Pitfalls
A research answer arrives already sorted, and the sorting is the problem
Asking what is known about a subject returns a settled-sounding account, and what the settling removed is…
· 3 min read
Pitfalls
The confident wrong answer, and how to catch it before it ships.
20 articles · page 2 of 2
Pitfalls
A number acquires authority the moment it is written down
Quantitative output is checked less carefully than prose because it looks like a result, and figures that…
· 3 min read
Pitfalls
Material that has already been through the tool is a poor input for the next step
Generated text fed back in as source loses its remaining specifics with each pass, and the loss is…
· 3 min read
Pitfalls
How sure it sounds is not information you can use
The confidence expressed in an answer is a property of the prose rather than of the claim, which means…
· 3 min read
Pitfalls
Approving work you did not watch being made
Sign-off assumes the reviewer can infer how a document was produced from reading it, and that assumption…
· 4 min read
Pitfalls
Explaining to a colleague why you did not use the tool for this one
Once assistance is assumed, choosing the slower method becomes a decision that has to be defended, and the…
· 3 min read
Pitfalls
The cost of a document you generated is paid by whoever has to read it
Making written material cheap to produce does not make it cheap to consume, and the difference is absorbed…
· 4 min read
Pitfalls
An answer drawn from your own document can still come from somewhere else
Supplying the source material raises accuracy without guaranteeing it, and the failures that remain are a…
· 3 min read