WYSIATI = What you see is all there is

I ran across the phrase WYSIATI in a linked in discussion and looked it up. A good article is below. It shows how many of us jump to conclusions.

http://jeffreysaltzman.wordpress.com/2013/04/08/wysiati/

While I am guilty of this at times, I recall the times (and this is in my second book, Strategies) when I was a Little League Manager. The other managers knew far more about baseball than I did. But they based things on "how they looked." I instead took statistics. The other managers would routinely tell me things that were not true. My best pitcher  - based on numbers - "they who did not see the numbers," said was my worst. My lead off batter they said was wrong and yet this child had the best "on base average" which is what you do for the first batter. I never argued with the other coaches. I thought they would never listen. I also never changed from what the stats said. And so, yes, when I have my bright days, I try to avoid WYSIATI.  Perhaps I and others should be even more aware ... that hunches are often just plainly wrong.

A good article I thought.

Back To Home

Back to Main Index for Ron Plachno Site