When in Doubt, Zoom out
Things are complex, so ignore all rules of thumb.
Since this is also a rule of thumb and its paradoxical nature allows one to ignore it and follow it at the same time, here's another rule of thumb that I found repeatedly useful: when in doubt, zoom out.
But for what kinds of doubt?
If you are in doubt about which option to choose, another rule of thumb would work better: choose the option that will put you in a position to have more options. But when in doubt about explaining and justifying something involving living beings, zooming out would often work—even more so now, when zooming in has been the dominant movement in science and politics.
Examples abound.
Cognition was believed to be something happening in the brain, leaving many phenomena without explanation until it was expanded to include the body and environment.
It was hoped that knowing everything about genes would lead to breakthroughs in medicine. It didn't. Genes don't do much by themselves but only as part of larger regulatory networks.
Similarly, the understanding of the immune system progressed when cellular mechanisms of self/non-self discrimination were replaced by studying the immune system as a network.
What about social structures?
We do projects and measure their health with project KPIs. But internal enterprise projects and investments in change bring local optima. Especially the IT projects. They choose the famous and familiar, have functional requirements bias, and miss the whole enterprise on the project boards.1 Their success is borrowed.
That's for internal projects. External ones show similar discrepancies. Some meet their goals but leave the clients unsatisfied, while others work the opposite way.2
A department may seem healthy and successful when evaluated by its ability to secure a larger budget, expand its staff, or increase its influence. Yet, it might be slowing down the organization it belongs to. Similarly, an organization could be thriving while still harming society.
So, when in doubt, zoom out.
Elaborated in Apps Break Data.
Usher, G., & Whitty, J. (2017). Project Management Yinyang: Coupling project success and client satisfaction. Project Management Research and Practice, 4. https://doi.org/10.5130/pmrp.v4i0.5523