Many agreed with the author (Watts) while placing common sense in a broader context. Herb Brotspies quoted Peter Drucker to make his point: “The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence; it is to act with yesterday’s logic.” Rebecca Mott commented that “Managers who use only common sense to make decisions can fall prey to short-sighted thinking.” Ajay Kumar Gupta cautioned that “we tend to forget many things” and “tend to exclude external dynamics that were present” at the time previous decisions served or failed us.

Most felt that common sense had its place in combination with formal systems of knowledge, research, and planning. As Michael Aschenbach put it, “If you get lost in the woods, it is good to have survival experience. Having a map is nice, too.” Jamie Hsu said that “It is the combination of theory and common sense that makes a great leader and decision maker.” Jeremy Pooley asked, “Could it be that planning and testing helps us better understand the questions we need to be asking and answering before we try and architect solutions?”

Seena Sharp left us with the interesting question of whether, to the extent common sense reflects what has worked in the past, its overuse reduces our acceptance of change? Does common sense impede change? What do you think?