PS-SUP-083 · r4
SUPERVISION
OBSERVED
ENGAGED
PARALLEL AGENT SUPERVISION
Attention given to one of them is attention taken from the rest.
01 DEFINITION
Condition in which one person is answerable for several elements acting on their own at the same time, so attention given to any of them is withdrawn from the others, and which one needed it is apparent only afterwards.
02 CONDITIONS
UNCERTAINTY
MISSING
Which of them is about to need attention is not knowable from what is shown.
TIME PRESSURE
MODERATE
Each has its own pace, and none of them waits for the person to arrive.
ERROR ASYMMETRY
ASYMMETRIC
Watching the wrong one costs nothing until the unwatched one is the one that mattered.
OPERATOR STATE
SUPERVISORY
The person is not operating any of them; they are answerable for all of them.
03 WHERE IT APPEARS
MEDICALOne clinician holds responsibility for several patients whose courses run at the same time.
MANUFACTURINGOne operator oversees several cells running unattended, and watching one is not watching the others.
LOGISTICSA single controller is answerable for several vehicles moving independently.
AI EXP.One person reviews the output of several automated processes running concurrently on their behalf.
ENERGYOne desk covers several units whose excursions do not queue for attention.
FINANCEOne person supervises several automated strategies acting at once in markets that move together.
04 WHAT AEON WORKED THROUGH HERE
One person was answerable for several things acting at once, and looking at any of them meant not looking at the others. Showing them all at group level made none of them supervisable; showing one left the rest unattended. The work went into what each element is expected to handle without being looked at, so that attention was spent on what it could not.
What stays unresolved is what an element does while it is not being watched — one that waits for attention gives up the reason it was delegated, and one that carries on is carrying on unsupervised by definition.