{"id":2282,"date":"2013-12-09T18:32:34","date_gmt":"2013-12-09T18:32:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/?p=2282"},"modified":"2013-12-09T18:32:34","modified_gmt":"2013-12-09T18:32:34","slug":"getting-seduced-by-the-tyranny-of-the-obvious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/09\/getting-seduced-by-the-tyranny-of-the-obvious\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;Getting seduced by the tyranny of the obvious&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I got thinking about this phrase\u00a0after a colleague replied: &#8220;Don&#8217;t get seduced by the tyranny of the obvious&#8221;.\u00a0 This\u00a0reply to my request for examples of mistakes experts make in <strong>civil litigation<\/strong> cases (Ref. 1),<\/p>\n<p>(My colleague requested no citation but he is an experienced professional engineer, quite well known in\u00a0eastern Canada, and been around the block a few times.\u00a0 He\u00a0looked at a draft of this posting)<\/p>\n<p>We were chatting about the mistakes experts make.\u00a0 He was referring to an engineer not carrying out a thorough forensic engineering investigation because &#8220;the cause is obvious&#8221;.\u00a0 And, as a result,\u00a0sometimes making\u00a0a mistake, and learning that the &#8216;obvious&#8217; cause is wrong.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Counsel<\/strong> needs to know about this fairly human susceptibility of experts.\u00a0 They can help\u00a0ensure an expert\u00a0doesn&#8217;t make this mistake\u00a0by clearly stipulating a thorough investigation.\u00a0 Regardless as to where the initial investigation seems to be leading.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s no question that\u00a0forensic engineers\u00a0sometimes make this mistake &#8211;\u00a0get seduced by the tyranny of the obvious.<\/p>\n<p>Why?\u00a0 Some reasons:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We honestly think we&#8217;ve\u00a0nailed the cause and stop investigating.<\/li>\n<li>We are susceptible to the good feeling\u00a0you get when you\u00a0quickly determine\u00a0the cause of a failure in the built environment or the cause of\u00a0an accident.\u00a0 We like getting at the truth and the good feeling at finding it.<\/li>\n<li>We got egos, and sometimes think we&#8217;re more\u00a0insightful than is actually the case, and, besides,\u00a0a quick assessment and fix of a problem looks good on us.<\/li>\n<li>We made the mistake of taking a case with an inadequate budget\u00a0or too tight a deadline.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines tyranny as, &#8216;a rigorous condition imposed by some outside agency or force, e.g., living under the <em>tyranny<\/em> of the clock&#8217;.\u00a0 And for obvious, the dictionary says, &#8216;easily discovered, seen, or understood&#8217;.\u00a0 Power over something is\u00a0implicit in tyranny.<\/p>\n<p>You decide not to carry out a thorough investigation after doing a little investigation because you\u00a0believe\u00a0you have found the cause of the failure &#8211;\u00a0it&#8217;s obvious.\u00a0\u00a0Except you\u00a0learn later &#8211; perhaps from an expert retained by another party, that you&#8217;ve made a mistake, that there was another cause.\u00a0 Or you had difficulty explaining in court why it was obvious.\u00a0 Or difficulty explaining\u00a0why\u00a0you didn&#8217;t carry out a thorough investigation to be sure of\u00a0the obvious.\u00a0 You forget that it&#8217;s easier to explain doing too\u00a0much than too little.<\/p>\n<p>You found something, latched onto it, and didn&#8217;t look further.\u00a0 The obvious had\u00a0you in its power.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Forensic engineers<\/strong>, take care that the seemingly obvious answer to the cause of a failure or an accident doesn&#8217;t blind you\u00a0to your commitment to the justice system to do a thorough investigation.\u00a0 And <strong>C<\/strong><strong>ounsel<\/strong>, take care that your expert has an adequate budget and sufficient time to carry out a thorough investigation (Ref. 2), and understands that you want\u00a0him to\u00a0check the obvious with such an investigation.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>References<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Mistakes forensic engineers make.\u00a0 Posted June 20, 2013. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/20\/mistakes-forensic-engineers-make\/\">http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2013\/06\/20\/mistakes-forensic-engineers-make\/<\/a><\/li>\n<li>Steps in the forensic engineering investigative process.\u00a0 Posted\u00a0July 15, 2013 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/15\/steps-in-the-forensic-engineering-investigative-process-with-an-appendix-on-costs\/\">http:\/\/www.ericjorden.com\/blog\/2013\/07\/15\/steps-in-the-forensic-engineering-investigative-process-with-an-appendix-on-costs\/<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I got thinking about this phrase\u00a0after a colleague replied: &#8220;Don&#8217;t get seduced by the tyranny of the obvious&#8221;.\u00a0 This\u00a0reply to my request for examples of mistakes experts make in civil litigation cases (Ref. 1), (My colleague requested no citation but &hellip; 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