The other day, my wife was looking at a recipe book and writing in a notebook. She often looks at these books when making meal plans and grocery lists, so I didn’t think much of it. Several minutes later, this was still happening, so I looked closer and realized that she was copying recipes by hand. I asked if taking a picture and emailing herself would work just as well. It turns out that she had considered scanning it, but our scanner isn’t a flatbed.

I laughed (not at her, but with her) because my teammates have often found me in a similar state. Sometimes all I need is a simple “Have you considered…?"1. Then I can usually see exactly how my initial idea put me on a one-track train of thought which made me miss the alternatives.2

Just another great example of why team communication (especially pair programming) is so powerful. Feel free to share some times you remember when a fresh perspective was all it took to see a better way.3

Footnotes:

1: I’d like to think that I return the favor from time to time.

2: In addition, I usually facepalm myself.

3: Pairing can make this process continuous, but that’s for another post.