[strogonoff]

I find that mentoring a novice apprentice (both teaching general domain knowledge and describing specific architecture decisions in projects they’re getting involved in) is a great way to get back to first principles.

The expected outcome is increased human resource so it somewhat offsets the economic costs.

One caveat is that this process requires the willingness to rethink your own established models, and recognising when they might’ve been outdated or incorrect takes some self-discipline.

[leave_a_legacy]

Mentoring is the fastest way for one to learn or relearn first principles. Explaining an idea to someone requires that you speak to their level of understanding. Thus, explaining a complex idea to someone with understanding of only fundamental truths (novices), requires that you only speak in first principles. If you cannot, you will provide a bad explanation. When you eventually are able to provide a good explanation, you will know you have grasped the fundamental truths of the idea.