Labels, labels, everywhere...

Photo by Florencia Viadana on Unsplash

Labels are a useful tool, they make our ever optimizing brains quite happy. They make it 'easy' to organize and discuss information, working with data, a spreadsheet or chart or a feature in a product, as a reference or way to simplify communication.

The more complex the systems, the more simplification is desired and the more labels fail us.

A label helps us generalize and group but it doesn't fully represent any individual or system, not even close.

And in our ever changing, fast paced world, it can be very easy to focus on the label, lose the context and detail, and ultimately lose the very purpose it is meant to serve, to help guide us in our understanding of the world around us, and improving our ability to communicate and understand each other.