Comments on: How to Become an Expert: A Roadmap

By: used vans

used vans — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 09:28:45 +0000

I like how this isn’t specific to any particular activity to become ‘expert’ at, and that you’ve highlighted the fact that it will take different lengths of time to become an expert at different things

By: Luciano Passuello

Luciano Passuello — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:33:53 +0000

Thanks for the pointers, Marcel!

I am always amazed about how many companies waste lots of money on complicated HR information systems, and how few of them use simple yet effective models like Dreyfus’s.

By: Marcel

Marcel — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:24:18 +0000

When I started to analyze how to better manage my team of consultants, I end up with 2 major concluzions:
- knowledge management
- competence mapping (for company and people)

For the first topic I would recommend you to read
http://www.systems-thinking.org/kmgmt/kmgmt.htm

as for the second topic
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-competency-mapping.htm

The Dreyfus model of skill acquisition highlighted here by Luciano was for me a very practical approach in dealing in the real life with the combination of the competence and knowledge management.

By: Luciano Passuello

Luciano Passuello — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:19:41 +0000

That’s a terrific approach, Jeffrey! Most people — myself included — tend to believe exactly the opposite (that you’re expert on areas that you didn’t make many mistakes on), so I can definitely see how that statement can be an eye-opener to many.
Thanks for sharing!

By: ikhsan

ikhsan — Mon, 11 May 2009 07:20:18 +0000

i’ve read many articles and books about human mind. So i’m found out a dreyfus theory, a 10000 hours rule, mind map, memorize technique and many others. when i’m read the theories all seems to be true, so i think there’s really many approaching technique to treat our way of thinking.

But when i’m trying to implement the theories that’s become a really difficult. the theories tend to simplify the fact (or i can’t to correlate the fact and the theory), because the reality is more complex, so i was just follow my intuition..mmm “she’s not skilled enough”, mmm “she’s the one i was looking for”, even i can’t really explain why with the words.

when come to quantifying knowledge in general i’m just differentiate to, “not knowing”, “knowing”, “understanding”, “proficient”, “expert”, above this level i was call a “genious”, a very rare of species .

btw, i like this kind of blog, exploring our mind. in our unconscious mind this will keep on memory and build slowly our intuition if we connecting with our experience. a theory just make us to knowing, but practice will make us to understanding.

keep thinking, keep learning, and keep doing…nice blog

By: Jeffrey @ Eating In The Now Teacher

Jeffrey @ Eating In The Now Teacher — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:44:25 +0000

One of my mentors always says “Go Use This Stuff!” and it really is one of the keys. In a way, an expert is someone who has actually made the mistakes that a beginner doesn’t want to make. Then, they’re able to live and tell about it plus give a roadmap about how to avoid it.

So many people don’t realize they’re an expert at something because they might be totally unconscious of what they’re doing. That’s why when someone asks me what their niche would be, I ask them to tell me the area where they have made the most mistakes in. That’s often one of those Aha! moments for them.

By: Winston Lim

Winston Lim — Fri, 01 May 2009 15:05:17 +0000

Share the same hobby here – “the quest of brain power”, check out Peter Senge’s book.

The 5th Discipline.

By: George Benckenstein

George Benckenstein — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 03:15:14 +0000

As always, great post Luciano. Your blog is inspiring. I’m not so sure there is a formula to becoming an expert as it states in “Outliers.” But 10k hours can’t help your quest to becoming the best you can be

By: Luciano Passuello

Luciano Passuello — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 12:04:51 +0000

It's an honor to have you here, Andre. I discovered your site not long ago, and it has already become my #1 favorite blog on productivity and GTD.Thanks for the recommendation! The Dreyfus model of skill acquisition is my first contact with Dreyfus' work, and I'm excited to read more from him. For reference, I found out that the model is described in one of his other many books, Mind over Machine.

By: Andre Kibbe

Andre Kibbe — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:54:06 +0000

“I usually take these numbers — such as 10 years, or 10,000 hours — with a grain of salt, here’s why: skills (and fields) immensely differ in scope size. As an extreme example, I just can’t put ‘pilot an aircraft’ and ‘clip nails’ in the same bucket. That’s why I chose not to include such number in the article — not even as rough guidelines.”

I completely agree. The 10,000-hour figure has always seemed fairly arbitrary. It would be an interesting research project to classify the average number of hours needed to acquire a skill in a given domain at each of Dreyfus’ skill levels.

This was an excellent breakdown of learning stages. Dreyfus has always been an insightful thinker. What Computers Still Can’t Do is one of my favorite books.