The Curse of Expertise: Why Familiarity Breeds Ambiguity, According to Leonardo Freixas

In a recent LinkedIn post, Leonardo Freixas delves into a common paradox of expertise: the better you understand a process, the more challenging it can be to explain it effectively. Freixas highlights how deep familiarity can inadvertently create blind spots, leading to communication breakdowns in various professional contexts.

Freixas uses a simple analogy to illustrate this point: the instruction to “Put the peanut butter on the bread.” While seemingly straightforward to the person giving the instruction, a literal interpretation by the recipient can reveal unforeseen assumptions. As Freixas notes,

“The writer sees the workflow. The reader sees the words. That gap is where instructions fail.”

This gap, Freixas argues, is a direct consequence of assumed knowledge becoming invisible to the expert. Every instance where a literal interpretation leads to a mistake exposes something the writer has long ceased to consciously consider. This phenomenon, according to Freixas, acts as a powerful detector of unspoken assumptions.

The Ubiquity of the Expertise Blind Spot

Leonardo Freixas extends this observation beyond simple instructions, pointing out its prevalence in critical business processes. He writes,

“You see the same failure in onboarding, handoffs, briefs, SOPs, and prompts.”

The core issue, as Freixas explains, is that the more ingrained a process becomes in an individual’s mind, the less visible its individual components appear. This invisibility is the root cause of many communication failures in professional settings.

Redefining Clarity in Documentation

Freixas challenges the conventional notion that comprehensive documentation equates to clarity. Instead, he proposes a more nuanced definition. According to Freixas, effective documentation isn’t about exhaustive detail, but rather about anticipating the specific needs and potential inferences of the intended reader.

In Freixas’s view, true clarity is achieved by minimizing ambiguity for a particular audience. He states,

“Good documentation doesn’t explain everything. It predicts what this reader can safely infer.”

This perspective suggests that successful communication hinges on empathy and a deep understanding of the recipient’s knowledge base, rather than simply listing facts. Documentation fails, Freixas concludes, precisely where this assumed knowledge begins to diverge between the writer and the reader.