I agree with you that #3 seems the most valuable option, and you are correct that we aren’t as plugged in—although I am much less plugged in (yet) than the other two authors. I hope to learn more in the future about
How much explicit strategy research is actually going on behind close doors, rather than just people talking and sharing implicit models.
How much of all potential strategy research should be private, and how much should be public. My current belief is that more strategy research should be public than private, but my understanding of info hazards is still quite limited, so this belief might change drastically in the future.
To respond to your other questions:
Are there enough people and funding to sustain a parallel public strategy research effort and discussion?
I am not sure whether I get the question: I don’t think there is currently enough people or funding being allocated to public strategy research, but I think there could be a sustained public strategy research field. I also think there is not a high threshold for a critical mass: just a few researchers communicating with an engaged audience seems enough to sustain the research field.
Are there serious info hazards, and if so can we avoid them while still having a public discussion about the non-hazardous parts of strategy?
Yes, there are serious info hazards. And yes, I think the benefits of having a public discussion outweigh the (manageable) risk that comes with public discussion. If there is a clear place for info-hazardous content to be shared (which there is: the draft-sharing network) and when there is a clear understanding and policy for limiting info-hazards (which can be improved on a lot), public discussion will have at least the following advantages:
Exposure to wider array of feedback will, on expectation, improve the quality of ideas
Outsiders have more accessible knowledge to learn from to contribute later. There are probably also a lot of benefits to be gained from making other people more strategically savvy!
It makes it easier for non-affiliated/less-connected individuals to create and share knowledge
I agree with you that #3 seems the most valuable option, and you are correct that we aren’t as plugged in—although I am much less plugged in (yet) than the other two authors. I hope to learn more in the future about
How much explicit strategy research is actually going on behind close doors, rather than just people talking and sharing implicit models.
How much of all potential strategy research should be private, and how much should be public. My current belief is that more strategy research should be public than private, but my understanding of info hazards is still quite limited, so this belief might change drastically in the future.
To respond to your other questions:
I am not sure whether I get the question: I don’t think there is currently enough people or funding being allocated to public strategy research, but I think there could be a sustained public strategy research field. I also think there is not a high threshold for a critical mass: just a few researchers communicating with an engaged audience seems enough to sustain the research field.
Yes, there are serious info hazards. And yes, I think the benefits of having a public discussion outweigh the (manageable) risk that comes with public discussion. If there is a clear place for info-hazardous content to be shared (which there is: the draft-sharing network) and when there is a clear understanding and policy for limiting info-hazards (which can be improved on a lot), public discussion will have at least the following advantages:
Exposure to wider array of feedback will, on expectation, improve the quality of ideas
Outsiders have more accessible knowledge to learn from to contribute later. There are probably also a lot of benefits to be gained from making other people more strategically savvy!
It makes it easier for non-affiliated/less-connected individuals to create and share knowledge