06-reference

commoncog optimise for usefulness

Sat Apr 18 2026 20:00:00 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) ·reference ·source: Commoncog ·by Cedric Chin

“Optimise for Usefulness” — @CedricChin

Why this is in the vault

Foundation epistemology piece — Cedric’s argument that frameworks are useful, not true, and that the test is whether they help you act under uncertainty. This shapes how RDCO writes (Sanity Check’s anti-framework-cargo-cult bias) and how we run client engagements (we resist deploying methodologies for their own sake).

The core argument

Cedric’s editorial north star: when reading or writing about ideas, the test is usefulness for action, not truth in some abstract sense. A ‘useful’ claim is one you can act on tomorrow with measurable feedback. An idea that’s true but unactionable is no better than an idea that’s false.

Mapping against Ray Data Co

Sanity Check’s editorial voice is heavily indebted to Cedric’s epistemological humility — ‘optimise for usefulness’ is essentially our north star vs. the LinkedIn-thought-leader tendency to package observations as ‘frameworks’. When we write about agent deployments, the bar is whether the reader can act differently tomorrow, not whether the post sounds insightful.

Source: Optimise for Usefulness by Cedric Chin (Commoncog). 3657 words. Filed 2026-04-19 as part of Start-Here + Business-Expertise-Triad backfill cohort.