Frames of References
People view the world from frames of reference . In this context, a frame of reference is information that is obvious to the person. It’s the information, and a set of assumptions, that they encounter or use everday. Different people’s frames consist of different sets of information that is obvious to them. A programer’s frame will have information about, well, programming.
Impact of Frames
The frame of reference impacts how the person views the world. This means that different people, essentially, see different things. They actually see the same thing, but absorb different segments of knowledge from it. For example:
- A mathematician may look at a flower and marvel at the Fibonacci sequence in its petal arrangement.
- A biologist may look at a flower and see its sex.
- A gardener may look at a flower and see that it needs more water.
Getting stuck in your frame
This means that it’s really easy to get stuck. Stuck in your current way of seeing and thinking; stuck in your current frame. Frames are made up of the details that seem important to you. The details which you haven’t noticed are invisible to you, and the details you have noticed seem completely obvious. This makes makes it difficult to see how you could miss something important, and on the flip side it makes it hard for you to see how someone could miss something so obvious (related: Curse of Knowledge ).
Solution
When different people, who see different things, work together, they need to account for and appreciate the details one person sees that the other person doesn’t.
If you wish to not get stuck, seek to perceive what you have not yet perceived. - John Salvatier