The Dreyfus Model is a model of skills acquisition that describes how people progress in their knowledge:

• Novice – Needs to be told exactly what to do. Very little context to base decisions on.
• Advanced beginner – Has more context, but still needs rigid guidelines to follow.
• Competent – Begins to question the reasoning behind the tasks, and can see longer term consequences.
• Proficient – Still relies on rules, but able to seperate what is most important.
• Expert – Works mainly on intuition, except in circumstances where problems occur

When we are involved in a discussion, guess the Dreyfus level of participants. Then, tailor the conversation to that. If you are the lower number one, bring the conversation to your level. Conversely, be sure you aren’t talking over the heads of the other participants.

why rules hurt experts

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