Indeed, “manager” was the example I had in mind while writing this.
Could you provide a simple linkage as to why the effect (less I know, easier it seems for the other specialized person) is a consequence of the availability bias?
I am not aware of a research; this is from personal experience. In my experience, it seems to help when instead of one big black box you describe the work to the management as multiple black boxes. For example, instead of “building an artificial intelligence” you split it into “making a user interface for the AI”, “designing a database structure for the AI”, “testing the AI”, etc. Then, if the managers have an intuitive idea of how much an unknown work takes (e.g. three days per black box), they agree that the more black boxes there are, the more days it will take.
(On the other hand, this can also get horribly wrong if the managers—by the virtue of “knowing” what the original black box consists of—become overconfident in their understanding of the problem, and start giving you specific suggestions, such as to leave out some of the suggested smaller black boxes, because their labels don’t feel important. Or inviting an external expert to solve one of the smaller black boxes as a thing separate from the rest of the problem, based on the manager’s superficial understanding; so the expert will produce something irrelevant for your project in exchange for half of your budget, which you now have to include somehow and pretend to be grateful for it.)
Indeed, “manager” was the example I had in mind while writing this.
I am not aware of a research; this is from personal experience. In my experience, it seems to help when instead of one big black box you describe the work to the management as multiple black boxes. For example, instead of “building an artificial intelligence” you split it into “making a user interface for the AI”, “designing a database structure for the AI”, “testing the AI”, etc. Then, if the managers have an intuitive idea of how much an unknown work takes (e.g. three days per black box), they agree that the more black boxes there are, the more days it will take.
(On the other hand, this can also get horribly wrong if the managers—by the virtue of “knowing” what the original black box consists of—become overconfident in their understanding of the problem, and start giving you specific suggestions, such as to leave out some of the suggested smaller black boxes, because their labels don’t feel important. Or inviting an external expert to solve one of the smaller black boxes as a thing separate from the rest of the problem, based on the manager’s superficial understanding; so the expert will produce something irrelevant for your project in exchange for half of your budget, which you now have to include somehow and pretend to be grateful for it.)