Situational Awareness - Learning to See

Project teams need to be able to quickly make the thousands of decisions required to keep the project on-track.

D. Brown Management Profile Picture
D. Brown Management
March 27, 2018 2 minute read
Share

It is critical for project teams to develop a complete 5D model of the project in their minds.

Situational Awareness: Learning to See, Perception, Comprehension, and Projection. Book: Learning to See by John Shook and Mike Rother

This is called Situational Awareness and includes three basic layers:

  1. PERCEPTION of data and the elements of the environment.  
  2. COMPREHENSION of the meaning and significance of the situation.
  3. PROJECTION of future states and events.  

If you are training yourself or someone else start at 1st layer and focus on seeing more elements of the environment.  Ask questions that stretch yourself and others to see things. Use checklists to help train. Create drills to improve both the quantity and quality of elements seen as well as speed. 

The lean body of knowledge starts with “seeing waste” in the value stream.  A great book on this topic is called “Learning to See” and Paul Akers has a great talk on this called “Lean is Simple” 

The Cost of Specializaton
Learn the right balance between specialists and generalists. Specialization is great and is what has allowed all of us to continually experience improved lives for generations. However, when taken too far, specialization can become a liability.
Related Article
Knowledge Management Pyramid
Knowledge Management is a complex topic and the contractors who learn to manage it the best will have an edge in the market. There are several models that can help you visualize the differences between different types of “knowledge” in your organization.
Related Article
Recruit, Develop, and Retain
We help contractors grow profitably by focusing relentlessly on all aspects of talent development.
Related Article