One way to harness the power of dissent is to conduct a "premortem" on important decisions. A premortem involves imagining a future where your plan failed, then working backwards to figure out why.

Have the team brainstorm as many paths to failure as possible - imagine competitors' responses, think through operational snafus, consider external risks. Then update your plan to mitigate the identified issues. This "creative dissent" makes the final plan much more robust. Premortems give permission to express doubts in a productive way.

Section: 1, Chapter: 6

Author: Annie Duke

One way to work at a more natural pace is to take more time shepherding your most important projects from conception to completion. Newport suggests several strategies for embracing this "slow hunch" approach:

• Maintain a 5-year vision for the big things you want to accomplish
• Double your estimated project timelines to give yourself adequate breathing room
• Simplify your daily schedule so you have time to make steady, incremental progress
• Return to projects repeatedly over time as you develop new ideas and insights

Section: 2, Chapter: 4

Author: Cal Newport

Consider the activities you tend to perform at work. For each, ask: How long would it take (in months) to train a smart recent college graduate with no specialized training in my field to complete this task?

• If the answer is not many months, that activity is likely shallow. A new grad can be quickly trained to do it. It doesn't leverage expertise.
• If the answer is many months or even years, the activity is deep. It requires specialized training to replicate, and therefore leverages expertise.
• Use this exercise to help triage and limit shallow obligations while prioritizing and protecting deep efforts.

Section: 2, Chapter: 4

Author: Cal Newport

Adopt the "4 Disciplines of Execution" methodology from the business world to keep your deep work habit on track:

1. Focus on the Wildly Important: Narrow your focus to a small number of ambitious outcomes.
2. Act on the Lead Measures: Track the behaviors that will drive success on these goals.
3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard: Make your tracking visible for added motivation.
4. Create a Cadence of Accountability: Review your progress regularly and commit to specific actions.

Section: 2, Chapter: 1

Author: Cal Newport

Gawande explains a helpful framework developed by professors Brenda Zimmerman and Sholom Glouberman that defines three types of problems:

1. Simple problems like baking a cake from a box mix. These can be solved by following a straightforward, standard recipe. Success is almost guaranteed if you precisely follow the instructions. No special expertise is required and results are easily replicated.
2. Complicated problems like sending a rocket to the moon. These consist of many simple problems that must be coordinated correctly. They require teams of experts in different domains and precise timing. Unanticipated difficulties commonly arise. But with enough planning, a complicated problem can usually be solved reliably.
3. Complex problems like raising a child. A complex problem involves many factors that interact with each other in unpredictable, ever-changing ways. What works in one case often doesn't apply to the next. Deep expertise helps but only to a limited extent, because each situation is unique and outcomes are uncertain.

Section: 1, Chapter: 3

Author: Atul Gawande