Volume C-2 | Rhythm and Error Correction: Four Deep Tools

This is an English translation of 中文原文

Opening: Why Do Some Teams Always “Lose Control”?

Have you seen this kind of team:

• Usually looks busy, but drops the ball at key nodes.
• During meetings full of pledges, but after meetings no one executes.
• Encounters problems and “overthrows and restarts,” result is always spinning in place.

This isn’t because team members don’t work hard, but because the team lacks four deep tools:

1. Appropriate checking rhythm.
2. Identification of core principles.
3. Gentle error correction mechanism.
4. Structured error management.

This volume talks about these four tools.

Tool One | Frequency Table: Find Appropriate Checking Rhythm

Story: Why Are Some Meetings a Waste of Time?

A project manager holds morning meetings daily, rain or shine.

But team members quickly tire of it, because most of the time, there’s nothing new to sync. Everyone takes turns reciting “what I did yesterday, what I plan to do today,” purely going through the motions.

Another project manager only holds meetings once a month.

But each meeting, the situation has already changed several rounds, everyone discusses “past problems,” can’t catch up with changes at all.

Tool’s Core: Checking Frequency Must Match Change Speed

How fast something changes determines how high your checking frequency must be.

Use a simple principle: Your checking frequency must at least reach “twice the change frequency”.

Why twice? Because if you check too slowly, “aliasing” appears: what you see is not the real situation, but a blurry image of “outdated information” and “new situation” mixed together.

Practical Point: Assign Different Rhythms to Different Matters

Divide matters you’re responsible for into three categories:

1. Rapidly changing matters (like dealing with sudden crises, product sprints): check daily.
2. Medium-speed changing matters (like project progress, team status): check weekly.
3. Slowly changing matters (like strategic direction, core capabilities): check monthly or quarterly.

Then, set fixed checking rhythms for each category, without fail.

Don’t one-size-fits-all. Not everything needs “daily stand-ups,” nor can everything go “a month unmanaged.”

Tool Two | Authority Ruler: Identify Core Principles

Story: What Makes a Company “Have Soul”?

Two startups, both very successful.

The first, wavers at temptations: investors demand direction change, changes; big clients demand custom features, adds; competitors lower prices, follows. Years later, company made money, but no one can clearly say “who we really are.”

The second has several “unshakeable” principles: don’t do things that harm users, don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term gains, don’t violate core technical philosophy. Each time facing temptation, first compare against these principles, if there’s conflict, don’t do it. Years later, this company became an industry benchmark.

Tool’s Core: Find Stable Principles Tested by Time

What makes a principle “unshakeable” core?

Not because someone says so, but because this principle has been tested by time:

• In various situations, it’s repeatedly used.
• Facing various disturbances, it remains stable.
• When violating it, consequences are always serious.

This is the source of “Authority Ruler”: truly important principles aren’t designed from scratch, but naturally emerge through repeated trial and error.

Practical Point: Annually Review Your Core Principles

Every year-end, do a “principle review”:

1. List your principles: Write down five principles you consider important.
2. Test stability: Over the past year, which principles have you been consistently upholding? Which principles have you actually often compromised?
3. Adjust the list: Those principles you’ve been consistently upholding and proved right afterwards, keep and strengthen. Those you often compromised and compromising didn’t cause big problems, can relax or delete.

True core principles won’t be too many (usually three to five), but each withstands the test of time.

Tool Three | Small-Step Error Correction Method: Gently Correct

Story: Two Ways of Correcting Mistakes

Two students both bombed the midterm exam.

Student A says: “I’m going to completely change! Start from scratch!” He throws away all notes, buys a bunch of new books, makes an entirely new study plan. Result: three days of enthusiasm, back to the old way after a week.

Student B says: “Let me see where I went wrong.” He discovers he didn’t understand certain knowledge points thoroughly, so he supplements specifically, fine-tunes his study rhythm. Final exam, grades improve significantly.

Tool’s Core: Error Correction Requires Minimal Cost

Why does “overthrow and restart” often fail?

Because the cost is too high:

• All previous accumulation is zeroed out.
• Requires enormous determination and willpower, most people can’t persist.
• Once failed, the blow is big, easy to completely give up.

While “small-step error correction” advantages are:

• Preserves previous accumulation, only adjusts problematic parts.
• Each adjustment amplitude is small, psychological burden light, easy to persist.
• Even if certain adjustment fails, cost isn’t big, can continue trying.

Practical Point: Establish “Weekly Check—Monthly Adjust” Mechanism

Check weekly:

• What deviation did I have this week on my goals?
• What’s the cause of the deviation? Execution weakness, or unreasonable plan?

Fine-tune monthly:

• Based on this month’s deviations, what places need adjustment next month?
• Adjustment amplitude shouldn’t be too large, control within 10-20%.

This way, you can correct promptly when small deviations just appear, instead of waiting until the problem is intractable.

Tool Four | Error Ledger: Structured Error Management

Story: Why Do the Same Errors Repeatedly Appear?

A team, every project delay, holds retrospective meetings.

But strangely, each retrospective can find reasons: “requirements change too frequently,” “not enough people,” “technical difficulty underestimated.”

But the next project, the same problems still appear.

Why?

Because they only “find reasons,” don’t “keep accounts.”

Tool’s Core: Classify Errors, Find Patterns

Most errors are not random, but have patterns. If you can classify, record, analyze errors, you can find “high-frequency error sources,” then improve specifically.

A simple classification method:

1. Aliasing errors: Mixing information from different sources, different times, different natures together.
2. Correction errors: Using overly simple methods to handle complex problems, missing key corrections.
3. Tail errors: Only looking at average cases, ignoring the impact of extreme cases.

Practical Point: Establish “Error Ledger”

After each project ends, record three types of errors:

1. Aliasing: Where did we confuse information from different sources? For example, conflating “needs the client said” with “client’s true needs”?
2. Insufficient correction: Where were our methods too crude? For example, using simple average to estimate time, not considering personnel differences and collaboration costs?
3. Tail: Which extreme cases did we not consider? For example, key member suddenly leaving, server failure, requirements drastically changing?

Each quarter, compile these three types of errors, find “high-frequency items,” then in next quarter’s processes, add preventive measures specifically.

This way, your team won’t repeatedly fall in the same pit.

Conclusion: Wisdom of Rhythm and Error Correction

These four deep tools are the foundation of long-term team stability:

1. Frequency Table: Checking frequency must match change speed, too fast wastes time, too slow loses control.
2. Authority Ruler: Find core principles tested by time, not many, but each unshakeable.
3. Small-Step Error Correction Method: Use minimal cost to correct deviations, preserve accumulation, gently adjust.
4. Error Ledger: Classify and record errors, find patterns, improve specifically.

These tools seem very “rational,” even a bit “cold.”

But actually, they’re the gentlest management methods:

• Appropriate rhythm prevents the team from running ragged or losing control.
• Clear principles give everyone a sense of certainty, knowing what the bottom line is.
• Small-step error correction gives people room to improve, not “one strike and you’re out.”
• Structured error management makes failure a learning opportunity, not an excuse for blame.

Use these tools well, your team can maintain long-term stability, not collapse due to “loss of control” or “rigidity.”