{
  "schema": "vedokrok.public-item.v1",
  "release_id": "MHC-RPUB-20260920-75ad787a",
  "url": "/knowledge/target-the-bottleneck-subskill",
  "id": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-9001",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "title": "Target the bottleneck subskill",
  "summary": "Whole skills often fail at one narrow point.",
  "kind": "protocol",
  "body": "Observe a representative attempt and identify the smallest subskill that currently constrains the result. Practice that part with clear feedback, then return to the whole task to see whether the bottleneck actually moved. Choose the next bottleneck from performance rather than from a generic curriculum.",
  "limits": [
    "Some skills have several interacting constraints. Do not force one-bottleneck thinking when the failure is systemic or the task is unsafe to decompose."
  ],
  "topics": [
    "union-skill-acquisition-career-dominant-focus"
  ],
  "intents": [],
  "source_ids": [
    "RS-05CB28C0C7CF56B3",
    "RS-5186856F4197D3A4"
  ],
  "evidence": [
    {
      "claim": "A meta-analysis of adaptive training found that effects varied by instructional intervention, with adaptive difficulty showing the strongest results among the examined categories.",
      "source_id": "RS-05CB28C0C7CF56B3",
      "role": "supports",
      "note": "The literature was heterogeneous and much of the context was military training; this does not validate every adaptive-learning product.",
      "locator": "Abstract"
    },
    {
      "claim": "A meta-analysis found deliberate practice explained meaningful but limited variance in performance, with much smaller shares in education and professions than in games, music and sports.",
      "source_id": "RS-5186856F4197D3A4",
      "role": "limits",
      "note": "The result argues against an hours-only expertise claim; it does not show that structured practice is useless.",
      "locator": "Abstract"
    }
  ],
  "use_when": [
    "When a broad skill goal such as 'become better at presentations' or 'learn system design' produces unfocused practice."
  ],
  "avoid_when": [
    "Some skills have several interacting constraints. Do not force one-bottleneck thinking when the failure is systemic or the task is unsafe to decompose."
  ],
  "example": "A consultant who knows the configuration but loses the listener during recommendations practises concise decision framing before studying another module.",
  "check": "The next practice target is justified by an observed performance constraint, and the whole-task retest can show whether it changed.",
  "steps": [
    "Run one representative attempt and mark the first consequential failure.",
    "Name the smallest trainable subskill behind that failure.",
    "Practice that subskill with feedback.",
    "Retest it inside the whole task before choosing another target."
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "id": "RS-05CB28C0C7CF56B3",
      "title": "Adaptive training instructional interventions: A meta-analysis",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39083372/"
    },
    {
      "id": "RS-5186856F4197D3A4",
      "title": "Deliberate practice and performance in music, games, sports, education, and professions: a meta-analysis",
      "url": "https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24986855/"
    }
  ],
  "relations": [
    {
      "from": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-9001",
      "to": "MHC-D-RESEARCH-9002",
      "type": "useful_with",
      "url": "/knowledge/use-a-representative-task-before-designing-the-drill"
    }
  ],
  "collections": [
    {
      "id": "RC-EA04F47374E04549",
      "title": "Learn new skills, turn them into career evidence, and protect the main development edge",
      "url": "/collections/learn-new-skills-turn-them-into-career-evidence-and-protect-the-main-development-edge"
    }
  ]
}