Tom Canterbury once said, “The trouble with referees is that they just don’t care which side wins.” For many sports fans—actually a great majority—it is, obviously, incredibly important which team wins. But seemingly more important is that SOMEONE wins.

“On a long enough timeline, everyone’s survival rate drops to zero.” It’s a quote from the popular 1999 film, “Fight Club,” and the same can be said for many of the things and ideas we create.

Socrates said, “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” Another great mind, Ed Morse (in his keynote address at this past year’s Coordinate Metrology Society Conference), said, “Data is only as good as what you can do with it.” If you were so inclined to put these two thoughts together, you could see the current dilemma regarding Big Data.

Several months ago I wrote about the Cynefin Model and the benefits of keeping things simple to the decision-making process. And a large part of decision making has to do with choice, or more accurately, the number of choices we have. Enter the “psychology of choice.”

“21 Things That Will Be Obsolete by 2020,” a post by Tina Barseghian for KQED.org, describes predictions for the state of the modern classroom.

It would be futile to argue that “cutting-edge” is not a popular term. Like it or not, it’s used (when used properly) to describe just about anything new or innovative.

K-I-S-S. It’s a pneumonic device. Crude but effective, it helps us remember to keep things manageable. But, as we all know, many times the ease or difficulty of a situation is not up to us. Hence, the Cynefin model.

Some things are best when they go unnoticed.

The moral to the story is that the best way to overcome obstacles and/or achieve success is to seek out those who have overcome the same barriers and succeeded. In other words, the key is asking the right questions of the right people.

Things not working together. We’ve most likely all experienced it or witnessed a friend, colleague or family member struggle with it. Recently, hearing a colleague’s frustration I approached his desk to see what was happening.