Up until recently i used to think all it took to be though of as high performing was hard work, dedication and continual learning. Although those qualities do form the base of self improvement there is now seemingly an even more critical element required to deliver differentiated results……
Domain Knowledge
The value of deep understanding
How experts deal with novel situations
This one quote “How experts deal with novel situations” has gotten me thinking about what can at times be subconscious and at other times existential. How do i push myself beyond procedure and into domain understanding ??
In my field this means
- Being able to think outside the box to understand a problem
- Being able to manoeuvre around edge cases and situations that haven’t even been considered by others
- Being able to accommodate drastic changes of design and scope
- Problem solving fast with minimal help
Domain knowledge isn’t knowing the answer beforehand, it’s having a holistic view of the work across the various different interrelated elements and then acting on the layers under the surface procedures or generic steps.
Practical steps I’ve been taking
- Understand concepts not just procedures
- Learn the layer under the one you work in
- Enjoy the hardness, difficulty and thinking should NEVER be handed off to ai
TLDR
Always be inquisitive, learn the tools underneath the tools, understand how and why things work. Once you do that, you own the results as opposed to someone just following procedures or established knowledge. This frames how Ive been trying to approach learning…. don’t just learn what to do, learn why and how the underlying systems work.
AI was not used to create or edit this article, im trying to learn how to write its hard