Why perceived uniqueness matters
Choose novel and new, and find you feel blue.
An excellent paper from Oxford University looked at 219 projects and found a strong link between how unique people thought their project was and how much it underperformed.
The key word is “perceived”.
I’ve been on projects where the money starts to run out and things get tight.
It is not a nice place to be. People tend to get stressed.
What the research helps us see
The working paper, Uniqueness Bias: Why It Matters, How to Curb It, tests the idea of uniqueness bias using a sample of 219 projects.
The learning: If people believe their project is too different to compare, they loose the opportunity to learn, and save themselves the scares learned by others.
Implication for the reader
If you believe your project is unique, broaden out your categories to explore similar project types.
The risk comes from perceiving your big idea or project as unique. As humans, uniqueness Bias means that we have a tendency towards not learning from what others have already learned.
Put simply, we should use what has been used before.
One quick action
Answer this question:
- Have insights from comparable projects been identified?
If you cannot answer those questions, pause the decision and compare the options properly.
Further reading
- Context: Uniqueness Bias: Why It Matters, How to Curb It
- What: Recognise Your Project Is Not Unique
- How: Options Analysis
Greg
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