Addressing Cognitive Bias in Systems Engineering Teams

Cognitive bias is a general issue in human decision making. It is easy to assume there is less bias in engineering, systems engineering, and program management, as these are generally considered rational processes. However, human decision making is almost always affected by bias. In the systems engineering practice as well as training systems engineers, we find directly addressing principles of human cognition, decision‐making, and bias to be an important part of individual and team learning. In the context of systems engineering competencies, these principles are core to mastery of systems and critical thinking, facilitation, and team dynamics. This paper discusses the characteristics of thinking, cognition, and decision‐making; conceptual approaches in psychology that frame these characteristics in the context of human decisions; common biases that affect decisions in the domain of systems engineering; and application of systems thinking tools to help overcome these issues.