Sketchplanations
Big Ideas Little Pictures

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Explaining the world one sketch at a time

Sketchplanations makes complex ideas simple with clear, insightful sketches. Explore topics from science, creativity, psychology, and beyond explained in pictures.

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Learn something new in a sketch each Sunday

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What is Hofstadter's Law quote explanation: It always takes longer than you expect, even when you account for Hofstadter’s Law.”

Hofstadter’s Law

Hofstadter's Law is “It always takes longer than you expect, even when you account for Hofstadter’s Law.” Hofstadter's Law is one of my favourites, and I share it time and time again. We are bad at estimating. We don't allow for the unexpected. We don't know the unknown unknowns. We are overly optimistic. We suffer from recency bias. Generally, we struggle with big, complex things. In the law's recursion, it's a little like this guidance from Clean Code: “The first rule of functions is that they should be small. The second rule of functions is that they should be smaller than that.”—Clean Code Or omit unnecessary words from Steve Krug Given how easy it is for us to underestimate how long things will take, be kind to each other. Also see: Hanlon's Razor Muphry's Law The Generalised Peter Principle Optimism bias From: From Douglas Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid (1979)
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A flat surface has unused potential

Not so easy to get your head around as we’re used to thinking that most things are they way they are because someone chose it for a reason. But it turns out that increasingly we see products that have found benefits in otherwise stable products by simply taking a flat surface and either adding shape or texture. (two of TRIZ’s trends of technology evolution)
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A good teacher is a DJ for learning

They: Sift what matters from everything else Create the right mix for the occasion Lead and respond to the audience
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