One of the major problems that I found with my approach to simulations throughout the semester is the fact that I tunnel vision and close of other options once I go down a route until my current thought process critically fails.
I was wondering how the rest of you have managed to balance focusing in on the issue and maintaining an eagles eye view of the problem and goal as a whole. Is this inevitable or can it be prevented? Is it better to always have a fail safe even at the expense of additional cost?
No one has all of the answers, and most people are learning as they go along. In the mini-sims I always tried to gather up as much information as I can and make a sort of informed "gut" decision. It is always good to communicate with the people you are working with as they may know something that you do not. For example Mini-sim 2 had two possible outcomes, you could have taken a risky route but have been able to complete it on time, or take longer but be more accurate. To answer your question, I do not believe it is very good to have tunnel vision. There is usually always more than one way to solve a problem, and having tunnel vision will only limit your ability to see other options. And yes a fail safe is always a good option. Could you elaborate more on what you mean by additional cost? Because the way I perceive it is a back up plan; which never hurts to have.
Tunnel vision is generally defined as the tendency to focus on a single goal with a limited point of view. The definition itself indicates that it is not an ideal element for project management, especially that of a Class III device. Its occurrence can be attributed to a stubborn personality in that a simple task that seemed straightforward at first was actually a lot more complex. Tunnel vision in this case would cause a PM to go about the task as scheduled instead of taking a step back and investing more towards the task's completion. The worse aspect of tunnel vision is that it serves as a distraction from other tasks that may actually hold more priority. One way to avoid tunnel vision is to simply ensure that every member of the project team shares the same vision so that no one deviates from the overall objective. Since tunnel vision originates from a lack of information, overconfidence, or a lack of time, it is important to ensure an effective level of communication among a project team.
A topic covered in this course is the application of communication management while navigating through a project. How might this be handled by a PM to reduce project tunnel vision? Scope creep is also covered, and is defined as uncontrolled changes to a project's scope as a project progresses, which can lead to unexpected cost and time delays. Do tunnel vision and scope creep fall under the same category, or is there a difference? Can the complexity of a project (i.e. a project for a Class I device versus a Class III) affect how tunnel vision is handled?
Tunnel vision can lead to the downfall of a project because you may miss valuable information or indicators while focusing on a single task. I think the best way to avoid tunnel vision is to have an experienced project team that has open communication and are willing to voice their opinion when they think tunnel vision is occurring or if they feel attention should be guided elsewhere. It's easy to fall victim to tunnel vision when you are working alone, but I feel that the team aspect of a project is the first line of defense against it, for instance having multiple team members weigh in on a project during the planning phase and sorting out tasks and breaking them down into simple subtasks.
I agree with everyone, tunnel vision isn't something that people should have because it will be limiting your option, it will prevent one to be creative. There are many solutions out there in the world but tunnel vision will veer to one solution, which may cause problems because the solution may fix one problem but arise many other. There could be solution that resolve everything without problems but one must have an open mind. Having a team that is very communicative and very engaging will help avoid tunnel vision because every member will voice their opinion and everyone will together on figuring what solution will best suit in solving the problem. It is hard to avoid tunnel vision but one be open minded to others opinion because they spark other ideas.
I think that sharing ideas with others in your group definitely helps. Everyone has a unique way of seeing things and can shine light on certain details you might have missed. During the first simulation I had a bit of tunnel vision happen to me and by sharing ideas we were able to come to a conclusion. Communication is the way to avoid focusing on just one thing. Sometimes we don't realize that we are wrong. Additionally taking a step back from this can help give you a fresh view of the situation.
I continuously aim to live a life not blurred by my own personal ideas and beliefs, but as humans, we all at some point default to the comfort of our own thoughts. To defeat this, we have to recognize the value in other people. Coming together as part of a conversation pools ideas and beliefs that may have never been considered otherwise. Whenever listening to someone else, particularly to someone who might be disagreeing with you personal belief system, its best to go into the conversation with as little predilection as possible. Subconsciously, its difficult to ignore our innate biases, but it is extremely valuable to practice becoming aware of them.
In solving a problem where the whole team may be traveling down the wrong path, it is always important to stay mindful of the scope of the problem. Seeing results does not always guarantee that the path will uncover the solution if the results are not relevant to the scope of the problem. In practice, regularly reconsider the problem from the beginning to reevaluate your decisions. You may come to find there have been obvious questions in front of you that you failed in asking. Avoid overlooking and overcomplicating the problem.
I found that the best way to avoid this tunnel vision is to have thorough planning. Whenever starting a project, it is vital to examine all routes available. It is also important to explore each option individually and pick the one that is most suited for you while having the others in your back pocket. It is sometimes easy to view all your options when you're deep in one. You can avoid this by planning ahead and always having a second option even if it adds cost or time to your end goal. At work, I hear people all the time talking about going down a rabbit hole. This means to keep exploring a solution that has no end and will get you nowhere. Another strategy to minimize this happening is to always have a line that you can't cross. For example, say, "if this solution takes me more than x days to complete, I will start exploring other options". This gives you a mini deadline to fill so that you don't end up nowhere and have to start all over again.
A good way to fight tunnel vision is to start with the big picture. Look at what the end goal is and how the particular issue is impeding that. List different ways to tackle this problem, and also bounce ideas off of other people. Lastly, taking a break and revisiting the problem later with fresh eyes helps as well.
I think we are biased towards thinking of one thing at a time. In college, we focus on one field of study and we spend a whole lot of time thinking only of that particular thing. So, I think all of us are guilty of having tunnel vision. Our training and education system seems to encourage tunnel vision, also stress and lack of time to finish the project contribute to tunnel vision. I totally agree that tunnel vision is sometimes resulting in a blurry picture of the big world. But tunnel vision should not always be considered narrow-mindedness. At times tunnel vision can become a valuable tool in navigating towards the right solution.
Tunnel vision can occur due to stress that one needs to figure out a solution. There can be such a focus on finishing the task that you may believe that there is only one route that may be correct and will not realize that you may need a holistic view of the situation. For instance in this one test I was running, there were hundreds of samples run for a maximum load criterion and I was using screws with different diameters to assess strength. Some values were falling under the criterion and had a weird trend when it came to the values. My coworker and I worked through this for a day and couldn't find a solution until we tabulated the values together and realized that although a small set of the data isn't fully within the confidence interval set, there is a trend within those screws to cause a large deviation. Sometimes, problems occur because you start to look at it without seeing the bigger picture and that isn't a fault. There are multiple times that scrutinizing the right thing will lead you to the solution, but its always good to remember focus on the purpose of the problem you are solving and not just a problem that suddenly pops up.
In response to your question regarding if tunnel vision and scope creep fall under the same category, I would say yes, they do fall under the same category. Both actions ultimately deviate from completing the overall project and put a halt on further progression with other necessary tasks. The difference between the two is that scope creep can be a direct result of tunnel vision if stuck on a task for too long. For example, say a medical device company finds an issue with obtaining a particular OEM from a vendor, and the team fails to obtain a different OEM from a different vendor, the project may be expanded to redesign the device due to lack of finding any other OEM , ultimately changing the scope of the project. Therefore, both tunnel vision and scope creep go hand-in-hand. Additionally, the complexity of a project differs from a Class I to a Class III device. Class III devices, are more complex in nature, and therefore, have a more involved project pathway from phase to phase. Therefore, issues with Class III devices may be more difficult to overcome with tunnel vision.
I have a huge tendency to fall into tunnel vision. I think its partially based on hyper focusing on a specific part of a project and also based on stubbornness. The issue is that it really only becomes clear that you have fallen into tunnel vision when either someone else calls you out or the actual solution is found and resolved.
(or at least that is how it is for me) I think one needs to have experienced tunnel vision multiple times for them to realize that they need to input some kind of fail-safe in their work to avoid it. Personally, I need to actively remind myself to step back sometimes and really review the entire project as a whole. This clearly does not always happen (as I found from the last simulation) but keeping it in mind can sometimes help prevent or at least reduce it.
If you think you are the kind of person to fall into tunnel vision, than it may be necessary to ensure that you have team members who are able to call you out and who you will listen to when they call you out. Then again if you have a team that trusts you it is very well possible that you may drag the entire team into your tunnel vision as well (which I did in the last simulation...)
This is a tricky question to answer to be honest. It may just be necessary to plan around the potential for tunnel vision so that excess money and time are not wasted.
One of the major problems that I found with my approach to simulations throughout the semester is the fact that I tunnel vision and close of other options once I go down a route until my current thought process critically fails.
I was wondering how the rest of you have managed to balance focusing in on the issue and maintaining an eagles eye view of the problem and goal as a whole. Is this inevitable or can it be prevented? Is it better to always have a fail safe even at the expense of additional cost?
one away to avoid tunnel vision is discussion and brainstorming with the team members. No one have all the answer, and you can not be the one who know it all. Being open to listen to possible out comes and solution might take some time, but it saves more time on the long run. When hearing peoples' point of views and their ideas of solving problems that faces the project it opens your eyes to see the whole picture and take better educated decisions.
I definitely suffer from this same "tunnel vision" issue when it comes to the simulations. Because there are many variables that can be changed during the experimental process, I also find it hard to switch gears sometimes when I feel as though I found the reason as to why the experiment is failing. Although the solution to this would be coming up with new ideas once your original experiment idea fails, tunnel vision is not always a bad thing if you are in fact on the right track. However, the tricky part is knowing when you are on the right track and should keep adjusting the same variable and when you are off base and should switch gears entirely. It really depends on the situation at hand, but to help with this, maybe a good rule of thumb would be to only adjust the same variable for a maximum of two rounds of the experimental process. If both trials fail, it is time to move on and think of other possible reasons for the failures. Brainstorming and collaborating with your fellow team members is also a great way to avoid tunnel vision.
