WeAreDevelopers Logo WeAreDevelopers
Sign in
For You LIVE
World Congress 2026 Europe - Virtual Stage • Jul 3, 2026 • Session details

Unbiased Decision-Making: Designing Better Decisions in High-Pressure Engineering Teams

Anna W Kriss Petersson

In 2018, high-pressure deadlines and cognitive bias led to a fatal autonomous crash. Learn how to use the DECIDE framework to bypass blind spots and engineer better decisions.

Pause
Mute Enter Fullscreen
#1 about 6 min

The fatal consequences of biased decisions at Uber

Business pressure to deploy self-driving cars led leadership to ignore engineer warnings and shortcut safety testing.

#2 about 3 min

Understanding system one and system two thinking models

System one relies on fast emotional patterns, while system two handles complex analytical trade-offs.

#3 about 2 min

Recognizing survivorship bias through historical bomber plane data

Analyzing missing damage data from surviving planes reveals how quick pattern recognition leads to faulty conclusions.

#4 about 2 min

Contextual factors triggering cognitive biases in modern work

High stress, excessive data, and extreme time pressure force brains to default to fast autopilot reactions.

#5 about 2 min

Adopting a structured approach to reduce bias influence

Implementing disciplined decision-making processes helps counteract biases and activates analytical thinking during high-impact situations.

#6 about 5 min

Identifying and overcoming the sunk cost fallacy

Evaluating required measurable goals and opportunity costs prevents continuous investment in failing product development features.

#7 about 2 min

Applying the decide model for structured team choices

The five-step decide framework provides a systematic process for making high-stakes decisions without relying on individual intuition.

#8 about 3 min

Defining the core problem and establishing baseline assumptions

A problem statement canvas narrows down specific situations, affected stakeholders, and underlying assumptions before seeking solutions.

#9 about 3 min

Establishing consequence timelines with the 10-10-10 model

Projecting the organizational impact of decisions across short, medium, and long-term horizons prevents over-optimizing for immediate needs.

#10 about 2 min

Overcoming false binaries using the impossible scenario tool

Forcing the elimination of obvious paths generates viable new alternatives and prevents teams from stalling between two choices.

#11 about 1 min

Evaluating alternatives against criteria using weighted scoring

Ranking generated options against established timeline and cost criteria helps teams select the best path based on objective priorities.

#12 about 3 min

Drafting execution plans through milestone timeline mapping

Mapping weekly and monthly milestones rapidly validates whether team resources and technical skills can actually execute the chosen solution.

Matching moments

2:07 min

Mitigating hardwired cognitive biases in technical decision making

Alex Thurow Alex Thurow · Europe 2026 Virtual

2:12 min

Fostering empathy and accountability in engineering decisions

Andrew Paul Andrew Paul · Europe 2026 Virtual

3:28 min

Overcoming cognitive biases in software tool evaluation

Benjamin Bischoff Benjamin Bischoff · Europe 2026 Virtual

3:16 min

Cognitive bias and uncritical tech adoption in architecture

Hendrik Lösch Hendrik Lösch · World Congress 2025

2:00 min

Why existing knowledge fails to reach decision points

Magdalena Szumna Magdalena Szumna · Europe 2026 Virtual

1:23 min

Mitigating groupthink through diverse and inclusive software engineering teams

Prathyusha Charagondla · LIVE

More from World Congress 2026 Europe - Virtual Stage

One Does Not Simply Make Architecture Decisions Alone thumbnail
36:15
3 months ago

One Does Not Simply Make Architecture Decisions Alone

Vladas Diržys

From Black Box to Glass Box : Bedrock AgentCore Observability thumbnail
21:15
3 months ago

From Black Box to Glass Box : Bedrock AgentCore Observability

Yasemin Aktürk

Leading in Rhythm: How Women Make Better Decisions with Biological Intelligence thumbnail
30:41
3 months ago

Leading in Rhythm: How Women Make Better Decisions with Biological Intelligence

Julia Grosse

Better Together: Leveraging Your Observability Tools as a SIEM thumbnail
39:06
3 months ago

Better Together: Leveraging Your Observability Tools as a SIEM

Mathias Palmersheim

ChatGPT Apps: From Chat to Checkout thumbnail
30:29
3 months ago

ChatGPT Apps: From Chat to Checkout

Aaron Koivunen

Interior Decorating (TypeScript Decorators) thumbnail
29:22
3 months ago

Interior Decorating (TypeScript Decorators)

Michael Dowden

Related videos

Why Smart Engineering Teams Make Bad Decisions thumbnail
19:27
Europe 2026 Virtual • 3 months ago

Why Smart Engineering Teams Make Bad Decisions

Magdalena Szumna

Strong decisions - decisive distinctions between digital and analog aspects thumbnail
24:27
World Congress 2025 • about 1 year ago

Strong decisions - decisive distinctions between digital and analog aspects

Philipp Belcredi

We Know Developers Are Neurodiverse. So Why Do Tech Teams Still Break? thumbnail
44:36
Europe 2026 Virtual • 3 months ago

We Know Developers Are Neurodiverse. So Why Do Tech Teams Still Break?

Luisa Liesenberg

The Algorithm That Nearly Killed Me: When Testing Isn't Enough thumbnail
47:19
Europe 2026 Virtual • 3 months ago

The Algorithm That Nearly Killed Me: When Testing Isn't Enough

Andrew Paul

One size fits all! Not at all! thumbnail
59:00
LIVE • over 2 years ago

One size fits all! Not at all!

Ixchel Ruiz

Automated Driving - Why is it so hard to introduce thumbnail
31:23
World Congress 2023 • about 3 years ago

Automated Driving - Why is it so hard to introduce

Sayed Bouzouraa

Related articles

From learning to earning

Jobs that call for the skills explored in this talk.