The referee got hit by the ball. Everyone laughed. I started wondering how elite officials are taught to move, and came across the term dynamic positioning.
What interested me was the purpose of the movement: protecting the view. A clear line of sight, an appropriate distance, continuous observation and a position that does not interfere with the event. It struck me as a useful way to think about an eyewitness.
Ask someone to explain a decision and they may give a fluent, confident account. But confidence in the telling does not resolve a blocked view, a poor angle or the part of an event they never saw. A less assured person may have had a much better opportunity to observe.
That distinction matters when investigating a disputed event. Where was the person? What could they see from there? When did they begin watching? Did anything interrupt the view? The account and the conditions in which it was formed need examining together.
My point is about where we direct attention. We spend considerable effort assessing how people explain themselves. Sometimes the more revealing question is much simpler: what were they actually in a position to know?
Adapted from Neel’s LinkedIn post of 21 July 2026.
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