Analytical paralysis is excessive analysis (or deliberation) of a situation, so that a decision or action is never taken, actually paralyzing the outcome. The solution may be considered too complex, with a lot of details, so the choice is never made instead of trying something and making changes in case of a serious problem.
Content
History
The Oxford English Dictionary reports that the earliest uses of the term “analytical paralysis” [1] are found in The Times in the 1970s.
Software Development
In software development, analytical paralysis usually manifests itself in a waterfall model with very long stages of project planning, requirements collection, design and data modeling. These steps can create minor or no additional effect steps and risk many changes.
Analytical paralysis often occurs due to a lack of experience on the part of business systems analysts, project managers or software developers, as well as a rigid and formal organizational culture.
Sport
See also
- Group thinking
- Information overload
- Perfectionism
Notes
- ↑ analysis of paralysis: definition of analysis paralysis in Oxford dictionary (American English) (US) . Oxford Dictionaries . Date of treatment May 10, 2016.