Slow is a skill

Sean describes how

When you’re on fire, problems are transparent: they’re solved simply by the act of looking at them. Even complicated layers of multiple problems can simply be glanced through like stacked panes of glass.

But nobody can work that way all the time.

What always works is thinking slowly and clearly: you don’t have to be smart if you can think clearly.

Engineers who can think clearly in a state of uncertainty tend to be extremely effective, whether they’re capable of great intuitive leaps or not.

Sitting with the raw data, resisting the leap, feels unsatisfying, and that is exactly why it is hard, and valuable.