Black box thinking
by Matthew Syed · first published 2015
15mentions
7recommended by
11HN commenters
2016–2022first – last mentioned
64% recommend36% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Compares how aviation and medicine handle errors, arguing that systems built on error reduction and learning beat blame. Useful for anyone interested in safety, feedback loops, or how teams learn from mistakes.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
"Nobody wants to fail. But in highly complex organizations, success can happen only when we confront our mistakes, learn from our own version of a black box, and create a climate where it's safe to fail, "--Amazon.com.
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I’ve mentioned it here before but the book “Black Box Thinking” by Matthew Syed is an interesting read in this regard. It really highlights how important it is to design a system that’s focused on error reduction (like aviation) rather than focused on allocating…
on “Why Doctors Hate Their Computers (2018)” ↗Anyone interested in fixing mental health or actually all health needs to get a copy of "Black Box Thinking" by Matthew Syed. Any application will fail until the nature of information sharing has changed.
on “Ask HN: Why don't startups try to disrupt the poor state of mental health?” ↗The book "Black Box Thinking" by Matthew Syed has good insight on this issue, especially the differences between how the airline and medical industries handle errors.
on “Medical error in hospitals is the third leading cause of death in the U.S.” ↗1. The power of a positive no 2. Black box thinking 3. Difficult conversations 4. Transcending loss 5. Braving the wilderness 6. Motherless daughters 7. The happy medium 8. Deep work 9. The golden sayings of Epictetus 10. The best interface is no interface 11.…
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in 2017?” ↗> I'm incredibly interested in how the brain experiences time during events of stress or high action. Read the book Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed. There's a couple of sad examples. One is some doctors who lose track of time while trying to intubate a patient. Another is an airline pilot losing track of the fuel level while trying…
on “How the Brain Experiences Time” ↗I can recommend the book Black Box Thinking [1] by Matthew Syed. It covers how not only checklists but also the learning culture that produced them can be applied to other industries and areas. [1] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Box-Thinking-Surprising-Succe...
on “Post-surgical deaths in Scotland drop by a third, attributed to a checklist” ↗... Black Box Thinking, by Matthew Syed.
on “The Colgan Air disaster was a milestone in aviation safety” ↗I’ve probably mentioned this book on HN a hundred times but “Black Box Thinking” discusses the aviation culture of avoiding blame and making sure a problem isn’t repeated and how other industries (like medicine) would benefit hugely from a similar approach. It’s really interesting.
on “Midair Collision over Denver” ↗…the get into the simulator, so they can learn good habit. This has nothing to do with pilots, but with humans and losing track of time when trying to troubleshoot something. I recommend folks read "Black Box Thinking: Why Most People Never Learn from Their Mistakes"
on “Lion Air crash: Investigators say plane was 'not airworthy'” ↗There’s a really interesting book called “Black Box Thinking” about the culture of safety & reducing errors. The author uses the airline industry (highly focused on the end-result of safe operations and expressly avoids placing blame) to illustrate how culture…
on “Tell HN: There needs to be a “right to speak with a human”” ↗Black Box Thinking: The Surprising Truth About Success by Matthew Syed. It looks at anecdotes and stats around different industries and people and their approach to failure and learning from it. Goes on a bit about incremental…
on “Ask HN: 2018 Summer Reading List?” ↗…they invite the family to their meetings). I do think the suing nature in the U.S. plays a part in people hiding their mistakes in for example healthcare. Your hospital story makes me think of the book Black Box Thinking by Matthew Syed which I red a few years ago. It's about how different the approach is in the airplane sector versus the healthcare sector.
on “Show HN: Why I share my failure at the risk of losing customers” ↗…whats to come. Grit - Angela Duckworth: Why do some people succeed and others don’t? Why did the child prodigy fail? Why do some people drop out of school and others thrive? Favourite book of the year. Black Box Thinking - Matthew Syed: Cognitive dissonance, why do we think the way we do. Why can’t we change our minds even when we are wrong? Clay Water Brick - Jessica Jackley: Want to learn what it takes to change the…
on “Ask HN: Books you read in 2016?” ↗This reminds me of the book "Black Box Thinking" that basically says it's more important to learn from mistakes so we don't repeat them than to assign blame. The commercial aviation industry does this better than any other industry, even medicine.
on “The Colgan Air disaster was a milestone in aviation safety” ↗Community perception is an interesting point, and it reminds me of a book, Black Box Thinking [1], which I wouldn't outright recommend, but it does an interesting job of comparing safety culture across aviation and medicine. > it is imperative that we create the systems and the culture ... to…
on “Why Can’t We Get a Handle on This Safety Thing? (1998)” ↗