Blindness based on proximity.

yesterday… I started working on something with a team member. We are an ‘agile’ team and work in pairs continuously. This team member had been working on a problem for a day plus several hours. The change required some rather complicated javascript to be added/modified in order to accomplish a rather complicated flow situation. Unfortunately, I believe this team member was too close to the problem and wasn’t thinking outside the box. After several hours of sitting with this team member, I decided I couldn’t handle the pain any longer. After a short ‘white boarding’ session, an alternate solution, one significantly less risky and time consuming was discovered. So… I bring to the conversation, is thinking out side of the box difficult when you become tightly integrated with the issue… and is it good to have other points of view (another set of eyes) look at the problem

Can someone become ‘blind’ to other options after looking/working on a problem for too long?

I believe, ‘YES’ ! Sometime I feel leaving the situation for a while and clearing your mind is a benefit to creating simple and therefore elegant solutions. Other factors and ‘things’ that happen throughout the course of daily life will alter your thoughts and direction toward other situations and solutions. This can apply to both life and technology.