Orthogonal to the gap.

I can’t seem to find the video, but recently there was a video on social media that sEshowed two bike riders approaching a makeshift crossing create from putting a pallet over a few feet gap in the road. One guys slows down, starts moving very deliberately realizing that if he doesn’t stay perfectly straight, his tires will fall in the gap and his bike will get stuck. The second biker crosses the pallet at 45 degrees at full speed, realizing that in this direction his bike tires aren’t aligned with the slots in the pallet and he doesn’t risk falling in.

When solving a problem it’s easy to come up with all the solutions in the same direction you were already riding, or in this case thinking. However, it’s likely there is good, great, or even the best solutions that are orthogonal to the direction you are thinking. Ones that require different people, different skills, different time commitments, but may yield the best results.

Tunnel vision isn’t a good thing, after all if the solution lies on top of the mountain, it doesn’t do you any good to take the tunnel through the mountain instead.