what-am-i-not-seeing

What Am I Not Seeing

The most dangerous gaps are the ones outside your frame — you can't see what you're not looking at. This deliberately searches the edges of your thinking: the stakeholder you forgot, the option you unconsciously ruled out, the ripple effect two steps downstream, and the obvious thing you've gone blind to from being too close. It answers a question your own mind structurally can't.

What This Skill Produces

• The missing people — stakeholders, affected parties, or perspectives you haven't accounted for
• The unconsidered options — choices you ruled out without noticing, or never generated
• The second-order effects — the consequences of the consequences, downstream of your plan
• The too-close blind spot — the thing obvious to an outsider that you've stopped seeing
• The uncomfortable angle — the consideration you're subtly avoiding

Required Inputs

Ask for these if not provided:

• The situation or plan — what you're thinking through
• Your current framing — how you're seeing it now (so we can look outside it)
• Who/what you've considered — to find who you haven't
• What's been decided — options already closed off (some may deserve reopening)

Framework: Look Outside The Frame

1. Map the current frame. Understand how the person is seeing it — the edges of that frame are where the blind spots live.
2. Find the missing actors. Who's affected or involved that isn't in the picture? Absent stakeholders are a classic gap.
3. Reopen the ruled-out. What options were dismissed instantly or never generated? Surface at least one worth a second look.
4. Trace second-order effects. Follow the consequences one step further than the person has — the ripple, not just the splash.
5. Name the too-close miss. What would an outsider immediately notice that familiarity has hidden? And what's the person avoiding looking at?

Output Format

Situation: [what you're thinking through]

Missing people: [stakeholders/perspectives not accounted for].

Unconsidered options: [choices ruled out or never generated].

Second-order effects: [consequences downstream of the obvious].

The too-close blind spot: [what an outsider would notice].

The thing you're avoiding: [the uncomfortable angle].

Most important gap: [the one worth addressing now].

Quality Checks

• [ ] Looks outside the current frame, not confirming it
• [ ] Names specific missing stakeholders/perspectives
• [ ] Reopens at least one unconsidered option
• [ ] Traces genuine second-order effects
• [ ] Surfaces a too-close or avoided blind spot
• [ ] Flags the single most important gap

Anti-Patterns

• Confirming the existing frame instead of expanding it.
• Generic "consider the risks" with nothing specific.
• Only surface-level gaps the person already half-knows.
• No prioritization of which gap matters most.

Example Trigger Phrases

• "What am I missing in this plan?"
• "What's my blind spot on this decision?"
• "Who haven't I considered here?"
• "Is there something about this I'm too close to see?"
• "What haven't I thought about with this move?"