[bialecki]

Tangent: One of my favorite classes in college was one that taught physics only at the level of order of magnitudes. It'd tackle questions like: Why is nuclear power more efficient than coal? How much more efficient? and then sought to answer those questions in terms of simple math and fundamental constants.

Considering problems/situations from an orders of magnitude point of view is an under appreciated approach IMO.

Of course the orders of magnitude argument get abused by marketing people (but what doesn't?). That aside, they're extremely valuable for personal or team understanding of the problems and goals.