#mental-models

#mental-models

When Serena Williams strode onto the Wimbledon grass, her legendary power was never in question. Her serve was crushing. Her backhand was unstoppable. But she wouldn't go to the net. She'd see a short ball, the kind that screams "approach," and she would hesitate to volley and miss the point. Serena was not playing at her full potential because of a story in her head.

Your team has pulled in data from a variety of sources, integrated it into a shared picture of what's going wrong, and built a plan of attack. Great start. But now the next challenge begins: How do you keep that model aligned with reality as the situation continues to unfold? In fast-moving environments-intensive care units, wildfire operations, aerospace missions, and, increasingly, teams working with autonomous systems-mental models don't stay current on their own.

From something as simple as choosing what to wear for work to as complex as what business strategy to implement to achieve a competitive advantage, making decisions is an integral part of our everyday lives. The human brain is wired in such a way that we make many of these choices subconsciously, without even being aware of it! 🧠 However, not all decisions are (or should be) made subconsciously-sometimes, they result from proper thought, analysis, and planning.

The framework proposed by Neves relies on six fundamental principles and 24 practical heuristics designed to enhance human-AI interaction by centering ethics and user expectations.