Strategy
Each skill is learned in a game, then shown off the board: where it turns up in ordinary life, and one way to try it this week. Chess builds thinking ahead, calculating and planning. The game-theory labs build cooperating, being unpredictable and valuing things. Poker builds weighing odds, sizing a risk, reading hidden information and bluffing: the poker lessons.
Then put the ideas together: work cases are short stories of three to five linked decisions, at college, in a first job, running a team or a business. They need no game.
Think ahead
- The blunder check
Chess · stage 1
Before you act, ask what could go wrong, and look at what the other side can do first.
- Their next move
Chess · stage 1
Think through how the other side will respond, as they see it, not as you hope.
- Two birds, one stone
Chess · stage 4
Look for the one move that serves two aims, so the other side cannot answer both.
- Not so fast
Chess · stage 4
Before you push on with your plan, ask what the other side wants, and stop it before it starts.
- Pass the problem back
Chess · stage 6
Some positions are bad for whoever must move next. When you can, make the move that leaves the hard choice with the other side.
Play it out: the The bonus rule lab.
Use it in a work case: Your first job, The rushed website, The café's coffee beans.
Calculate
- Count it through
Chess · stage 1
Follow a chain of consequences to the end before you agree to the first step.
- Patterns save thinking
Chess · stage 2
Learn the common shapes by heart, so the obvious answers come at once and your thinking goes where it is needed.
- Find what everything depends on
Chess · stage 4
Find the one part that holds everything else up. Strike it if it is theirs; back it up if it is yours.
- Look at three before choosing
Chess · stage 7
Before you choose, name at least three options, including one you had not first thought of, and compare them.
Play it out: the Nim lab.
Use it in a work case: The rushed website, The café's coffee beans.
Weigh odds
Play it out: the Which bag? lab.
Practise it in poker: Outs and odds, Worth it on average, Odds for later.
Use it in a work case: The quiz night, Your first job.
Size the risk
- Simplify when ahead
Chess · stage 5
When you are ahead and a sure win is what you need, remove the moving parts that could still go wrong.
- Give a little, get more
Chess · stage 5
Give up one thing only for more of another, and count both in the same units.
Practise it in poker: Which hands to play.
Use it in a work case: The rushed website, The café's coffee beans.
Plan long-term
- Small steps that stick
Chess · stage 2
Each step should leave fewer ways for things to go wrong, and the last step needs as much care as the first.
- Basics before brilliance
Chess · stage 3
Get the plain, sound steps right first. Clever ideas pay on top of them, not instead of them.
- Lead or answer well
Chess · stage 3
Move first when your move commits you or anchors the other side; answer when their move tells you something. When you answer, choose on purpose, to level things or to change their shape.
- When the script runs out
Chess · stage 3
Prepared plans run out. When they do, act on the reasons behind them.
- Fix your weakest link
Chess · stage 5
When nothing is urgent and the parts depend on each other, improve the part doing least.
- A plan, step by step
Chess · stage 5
Turn a goal into a route of small steps, each worth having on its own, and look again after each one.
- Resources change value
Chess · stage 6
What a thing is worth depends on the situation. When the situation changes, value what you hold again.
- Finish the job
Chess · stage 7
A winning position is not a win until it is finished. The last steps need as much care as the first.
Use it in a work case: The group project, Hiring a designer.
Bluff and model opponents
Practise it in poker: Why you bet, Signals and tests.
Use it in a work case: The rushed website.
Cooperate or defend
Play it out: the Prisoner's Dilemma lab.
Use it in a work case: The group project, Your first job.
Be unpredictable
Play it out: the Rock-paper-scissors lab.
Use it in a work case: The quiz night.
Value and bid
Play it out: the Sealed-bid auction lab or the Split the pie lab.
Use it in a work case: The quiz night, Hiring a designer.
Keep a cool head
- Spend effort where it matters
Chess · stage 7
Time and attention are limited. Decide small choices you can undo quickly, and spend your effort on the few that are large and final.
- Make it hard
Chess · stage 7
When you are behind, do not give in early. Find the defence that leaves the other side the most to get right.
- Review calmly: decisions, not results
Chess · stage 7
Judge a choice by what you knew, and could have found out, when you made it, not only by how it turned out.
Play it out: the Gain or loss? lab.
Practise it in poker: After a bad loss.
Use it in a work case: The group project, Your first job, Hiring a designer.