My almost viral lightning talk about the Bullshit Asymmetry Principle. Explained by science. Presented at XP2014 in Rome and at ALE2014 in Krakow

1. You’ll never win
against…
B.A.P.

2. “I gave you 2 more
persons... You’ll deliver
earlier!”

3. “I gave you 2 more persons...
You’ll deliver earlier!”
- Linear outcome (false)
- Linear proportion between cost
and delivered value (false)
- Linear starting costs (false)

4. “We couldn’t hire a
senior, so we hired two
juniors”

5. “We couldn’t hire a senior, so we
hired two juniors”
- Linear outcome (false)
- Linear proportion between cost
and delivered value (false)
- Linear starting costs (false)

6. “Proceed with the
other activities in the
meanwhile”

7. “Proceed with the other
activities in the meanwhile”
- Null context switch cost (false)
- Suspended activities remain idle
(false)
- Doing is always better than not
doing (false)

8. B.A.P.

9. Bullshit
Asymmetry
Principle

10. The amount of energy
necessary to refute
bullshit is an order of
magnitude bigger
than to produce it

11. The science behind
http://www.wpclipart.com/medical/anatomy/brain/four_lobes_of_the_cerebral_cortex.png.html

12. This is how we are

13. System 1
Quick pattern matching
parallel processing, unaware mode
Low energy consumption
System 2
Complex elaboration that need
attention and concentration
No parallelism
High energy consumption

14. Some battles cannot
be won

15. Information asymmetry
position asymmetry
time availability

16. Avoid them
Don’t put key people in the position to bullshit you

17. Create context
Environment, fail-safe condition, confidence…

18. Accept it
Somebody is always going to be wrong on the internet

19. Thanks
@ziobrando