# Gotchas

Update when sequential-thinking produces wrong conclusions.

- **Premature conclusion**: confirming first hypothesis without testing alternatives → always test minimum 2 hypotheses before concluding
- **Evidence-free hypotheses**: "I think it's X" without evidence → every hypothesis needs at least one piece of verifiable evidence
- **Revision avoidance**: refusing to revise when new evidence contradicts → revise explicitly; being wrong early is better than being wrong at the end
- **Anchoring on familiar patterns**: "last time it was X so it must be X again" → each investigation is independent; test, don't assume
- **Confirmation bias**: only looking for evidence that supports favorite hypothesis → actively search for evidence AGAINST each hypothesis
- **Skipping the cheap test**: running expensive tests (full build) before cheap ones (grep for the string) → always test cheapest first
