Practice · Practice
3. Inspect the Query Stack
Use this to slow down, separate observation from inference, and choose a next step that can still be revised.
What this practice is for
Use this when slowing down would help you separate what happened, what you inferred, and what can still be checked.
What this does not prove
This organizes reflection. It does not prove that an interpretation is correct.
The four questions are simple enough to remember and difficult enough to be worth asking.
Orientation: What problem am I currently trying to solve?
Morgan is not only trying to interpret the message. Morgan is trying to prove decisiveness. That hidden task changes the whole render.
Selection: What entered attention, and what did not?
The word today entered. The word approved entered. The possibility of a missing referent did not. Neither did the fact that the executive often dictates messages between meetings and assumes context other people do not have.
Weighting: What is carrying more force than the present evidence alone would justify?
The old label cautious is heavy. So is Friday urgency. So is the authority of the sender.