I think your description of the alien with the cigarette pack highlights the fact the problem with advice often lies in the fact that it’s too chunky. By that I mean the steps are described at too high a level. This can happen when there’s a great difference in the levels of experience of the advisor and the advised, and the advisor has become so familiar with the processes they have been conceptually black boxed. In fact the black boxing is a necessary part of the process—you ride a bike well when you no longer think about how to ride a bike, and you socialise well when you’re no longer aware of what you’re doing to make your socialising successful. If the advisor doesn’t realise that the advised has no idea how these black boxes work, the advice isn’t worth much to him.
Which is exactly why I said elsewhere in this thread that the only good advice comes when the adviser has seen the advisee (or many other advisees) make mistakes, which has the effect of breaking up the adviser’s black box.
I think your description of the alien with the cigarette pack highlights the fact the problem with advice often lies in the fact that it’s too chunky. By that I mean the steps are described at too high a level. This can happen when there’s a great difference in the levels of experience of the advisor and the advised, and the advisor has become so familiar with the processes they have been conceptually black boxed. In fact the black boxing is a necessary part of the process—you ride a bike well when you no longer think about how to ride a bike, and you socialise well when you’re no longer aware of what you’re doing to make your socialising successful. If the advisor doesn’t realise that the advised has no idea how these black boxes work, the advice isn’t worth much to him.
Which is exactly why I said elsewhere in this thread that the only good advice comes when the adviser has seen the advisee (or many other advisees) make mistakes, which has the effect of breaking up the adviser’s black box.