On Groups

Every once in a while, take a step back and think about “What groups of things am I working with?”

For example, Twitter. You can follow lots of people, but it doesn’t always make sense with people from your different interests (work, friends, family, celebrities, bands, news, restaurants) to be intermashed. So, you’ve got lists.

Same thing happens in biology, “Hey these things all look/act the same”. From this simple idea, Darwin achieved fame and changed the world.

It’s an obvious thing, but people often don’t take that moment. Take the time to step back and say “what are the basic groups of things I’m seeing / activities I’m doing”.

It helps find larger trends, and as soon as you deal with groups, you can find shortcuts and optimizations. Imagine how little you would get done if your visual system identified every object in a group.

Assuming you are not Rainman, and also assuming you are not a gardener or landscape architect, you see “a house with a bunch of bushes in front”, and not “a house with 19 evenly spaced plants in front of the sidewalk, two on either side of the doorway, 7 around the lamppost…” Your visual system automatically groups objects to serve as a mental shortcut.

Of course, there are benefits to being specific, as well.