Do You Know All the Rules of Your Game? If Not, You're Paying with Time and Money
A book was recently published in Estonia that reframed how I think about my work: The Language of Strategic Thinking (Strateegilise mõtlemise keel) by Kaspar Kruup and Margus Niitsoo. Though it’s in Estonian, the book deserves broader attention. It offers a refreshingly systemic and systematic approach to what strategy really is.
If you want to approach your business strategically, you need to be clear on several elements: your goals, your resources, your moves, your playing field — and most importantly, the rules.
The book defines three types of rules:
Unbreakable rules – such as physical or cognitive limits. You can’t bypass them, no matter how hard you try.
Breakable rules with consequences – such as laws or regulations. You can break them, but you shouldn’t.
Chosen rules – such as your own commitments or principles.
The Cognitive Limits Most Product Teams Ignore
One of the most overlooked yet critical "unbreakable rules" in product development is how the human mind works. I frequently see companies — especially startups, but not only — get stuck for months or years in product development because they unknowingly design against the way people think, perceive, remember, and decide.
They encounter user behavior that seems irrational or frustrating:
“Why can’t the user just…?”
But the issue isn't the user. It’s a mismatch between the product and cognitive constraints — like attention span, working memory, or perception. These are not things users can "try harder" at. They're part of the rulebook of human cognition.
When companies claim these were unavoidable issues, they’re acting as though this knowledge doesn’t exist. But it does. And while you don’t need to become a cognitive scientist, you do need someone who sees these patterns and implications early on.
That’s where I come in.
A Small Example: Interface Meets Attention
Years ago, when Pactum AI was building the first versions of their negotiation interface, I worked in the same coworking space. One of the founders showed me an early prototype. The interface used a chat-like screen where new system messages would push the previous messages up — auto-scrolling to the latest message every time.
Immediately I felt discomfort. When I tried to read a message, it auto-scrolled to the next message it had generated, interrupting my thought process.
The fix was simple: give the user control. Let them scroll manually. But the insight behind it wasn't about design preferences — it was about respecting cognitive pacing and autonomy.
Strategic Development Means Knowing the Boundaries
Processing speed. Mental load. Perception limits. These aren’t edge-case concerns. They’re core parameters of the system you’re designing for. And when you recognize them early, you move faster, waste less, and build products that work better — for real people.
I’ve had countless conversations where a team described a problem they’ve been working on for years, and after a short discussion I suggest a solution.
Their response?
“Yes… That’s exactly what we ended up doing. It just took us two years to realize.”
Knowing how to recognize human-system contact points early on is a strategic advantage. One that saves time, reduces risk, and leads to solutions that feel obvious — in hindsight.
