The biases FLAIMS protects against
Capable people make systematic errors. This is not a matter of character, this is how cognition works, and research has catalogued the patterns for decades: in decisions, in meetings, in roadmaps. FLAIMS does not pretend they do not exist. It builds the structure so they meet resistance at the right moment.
- 01I
Automation Bias
Parasuraman & Manzey, 2010People trust an automated answer more than the same answer from a colleague, especially under time pressure. The more confident the machine sounds, the less anyone checks.
Impact on working lifeAI drafts ship unreviewed, dashboards are believed even though the data is broken. One's own judgement quietly withers because it is never needed any more.
FLAIMS →Intelligence: AI prepares, people decide. Every use case sits in the inventory with an autonomy level, and the bias watch of the Intelligence Steward checks exactly this point. Outcome accountability stays with the Core Job, never with the model.
- 02S
Confirmation Bias
Nickerson, 1998People preferentially seek, interpret and remember what supports their opinion, and discount what contradicts it.
Impact on working lifeStrategy reviews become applause rounds. The warning from the second row counts as missing the big picture, and the same hiring profile fails for the third time.
FLAIMS →Segmentation of Power: Governance reviews the system with figures and facts, separately from the support in L. Dissent arrives as a signal from the structure, not as an attack by a person.
- 03F
Status Quo Bias
Samuelson & Zeckhauser, 1988Defaults win. People stay with the current tool, process or supplier even when a better option is on the table, because change feels like loss.
Impact on working lifeOld systems survive a decade too long. 'We always did it this way' finishes off every better way of working, and migrations get postponed until they become emergencies.
FLAIMS →Flow and Intelligence: every dependency has a documented exit strategy, and learning loops turn habit into a conscious decision. Whoever changes nothing decides that explicitly, not in passing.
- 04A
Sunk Cost Fallacy
Arkes & Blumer, 1985People keep investing in a failing path because they have already invested, even when stopping would obviously be better.
Impact on working lifeHopeless projects get more budget instead of less. Bad hires stay too long, and an acquisition is defended years after its thesis failed.
FLAIMS →Accountability: every outcome has a name, and Blame the System First separates the question 'What made this possible?' from the question 'Who did this?'. Exiting becomes a system correction, not a personal defeat.
- 05L
Groupthink
Janis, 1972Tightly knit groups suppress dissent to protect harmony. Doubts stay in people's heads, and the unanimity in the room replaces thinking.
Impact on working lifeThe offsite ends with twelve nods and zero hard questions. The risk is named once in the corridor and never in the meeting.
FLAIMS →Leadership and Segmentation of Power: FlowCoaches without assessment power hold the space in which dissent is practised, and the Gravity Decision Model shapes heavy decisions with those affected and records them. Weighting follows the stakes, not the volume.
- 06A
Hindsight Bias
Fischhoff, 1975As soon as the outcome is known, it appears predictable in hindsight. Whoever decided is judged as if they should have known.
Impact on working lifeRetros become blame rounds. Bold decisions are punished after the fact, and from then on nobody takes a smart risk any more.
FLAIMS →Accountability: the decision log records what was known at the time of the decision, and the ex post review separates the quality of the decision from the quality of the outcome. What is reviewed is the system, never the person.
- 07M
Dunning-Kruger Effect
Kruger & Dunning, 1999People with low competence overestimate their ability, highly competent people often underestimate theirs. The most confident are the least practised.
Impact on working lifeConfidently wrong voices dominate, true experts get talked over. What gets promoted is the appearance, not the competence.
FLAIMS →Mastery: competence belongs to the person, the level applies per competence, evidenced in the skill matrix and ratified in S. The room to decide grows with proven competence, not with self-image. Note: part of this pattern is statistically contested; FLAIMS treats it as a design risk, not a verdict on individuals.
- 08I
Availability Heuristic
Tversky & Kahneman, 1973People judge probabilities by how easily an example comes to mind. What was recent, vivid or emotional feels more frequent than it is.
Impact on working lifeOne loud customer complaint reshapes the roadmap. One bad hire makes the next ten interviews paranoid, and last quarter's crisis becomes this quarter's strategy.
FLAIMS →Intelligence and Segmentation of Power: the data anchor supplies the base rates, the authority to measure lies with S. Decisions hang on actual frequency, not on the loudest memory.
- 09F
Planning Fallacy
Kahneman & Tversky, 1979People systematically underestimate how long something takes and what it costs, even when they have done the same task ten times before.
Impact on working lifeRoadmaps slip by half or double. Quarterly commitments become theatre, and trust between delivery and leadership erodes deadline by deadline.
FLAIMS →Flow: WIP limits and the trend signals of the Core Jobs replace wishful estimates with observed throughput. Planning works with what the crew actually delivers.
- 10S
Halo Effect
Thorndike, 1920One positive trait, charisma, a school name, a past success, bleeds into judgements that have nothing to do with it.
Impact on working lifeCharismatic leadership gets unchecked authority. Big brands win deals their product cannot sustain, and in recruiting, whoever looks right wins.
FLAIMS →Segmentation of Power: decision rights hang on the Core Job and the competence level, never on the person. Governance reviews this coldly, with figures.
Structure beats willpower.
These patterns cannot be trained away, this is how human cognition works. What can be shaped is the organisation: so that a bias meets structure at the right moment, in governance, in the decision log, in the AI inventory, in the review. FLAIMS turns each bias into a checkpoint in the system rather than a personal failing.
See how it works →- IAutomation BiasIntelligence
- SConfirmation BiasSegmentation
- FStatus Quo BiasFlow
- ASunk Cost FallacyAccountability
- LGroupthinkLeadership
- AHindsight BiasAccountability
- MDunning-Kruger EffectMastery
- IAvailability HeuristicIntelligence
- FPlanning FallacyFlow
- SHalo EffectSegmentation