# Marginal Gains ## The Idea in Brief Break down a complex problem into small parts. Improve each part by a small amount. The cumulative effect is transformation. Marginal gains isn't about hoping small changes add up—it's about rigorous testing to establish what actually works, then compounding those improvements systematically. --- ## Key Concepts ### Aggregation of Marginal Gains If you improved every component of a system by 1%, the combined effect would be far greater than 1%. British Cycling's Dave Brailsford famously applied this to everything from bike seats to hand-washing technique. Small improvements compound; big improvements are rare. ### Decomposition Before Optimisation You can't improve what you haven't broken down. The first step is decomposing the process into measurable components. Which parts contribute most to the outcome? Which have the most room for improvement? Analysis precedes action. ### Controlled Experimentation Marginal gains is inherently empirical. You test changes in isolation to establish causation, not just correlation. "We tried a new approach and things got better" isn't marginal gains—that's guessing. True marginal gains requires measurement and controlled variation. ### Improving the Data Set First Often, the biggest gain comes from understanding what you didn't initially understand. Improve the inputs to your decision-making before optimising outputs. Better data leads to better marginal improvements. --- ## Implications **In performance:** Don't try to transform everything at once. Identify the highest-leverage component, improve it measurably, then move to the next. Sequence matters. **In operations:** Process improvement is marginal gains applied to workflows. Map the process, measure each step, improve the worst performer, repeat. **In learning:** Deliberate practice is marginal gains for skills. Break the skill into components, identify weaknesses, drill those specifically. **In competition:** Competitors focused on "big moves" often lose to competitors executing marginal gains consistently. Compounding is powerful over time. --- ## Sources - [[Black Box Thinking]] — "Marginal gains on turbocharge"—improve understanding through disciplined testing, not wishful thinking - [[Faster Cheaper Better]] — Process redesign as systematic marginal gains; eliminate waste, improve value-adding steps - [[Competing Against Time]] — Time compression requires identifying and improving the slowest components of value delivery