Right on time… Scott Berkun has shared yet another great essay, this time on Creative Thinking Hacks.
Out of this essay, come to critical point:
an idea is a combination of other ideas.
I love the simplicity of this description. But there’s a catch: you must both be open to ideas then fearless about using them. Ah, the rub.
In a recent series of client workshops on a future visioning project, the goal was to exactly this: take existing ideas and combine them in new and unique ways to arrive at a new, multi-channel offering. In the first workshop, we got as many of these ideas out on paper as possible, using a structured ideation process. In the second workshop, we took these point ideas and sought ways to combine them into collections of cohesive ideas.
The challenges we faced, though, with the participants were two-fold. First, we had to convince them that they already had the ideas, right there in the room, in their heads. We had learned this early on in our work with them. As an organization, they were knowledgeable and had loads of interesting ideas but no way to hang them together in a cohesive way. We just kept reminding them of this every chance we got.
Then, we had to help them to take all those ideas and shed their preconceptions about what was possible. This proved tricky. Combining ideas requires experience and practice. While the group got much better at combining ideas over time, the design team–relatively free from politics and willing to take more risks–ultimately synthesized the point ideas and initial grouped ideas into platform recommendations.
Yesterday, I looked at the definition of create. I became enamored of re-examining ordinary processes and potentially changing them to support creativity. In that spirit, I decided to pay attention to my working environment today and try to figure out why, in some places I can easily stay focused and productive and in others, I am hopelessly fragmented. Haven’t found the answer yet but I did find some great resources.
Creative Space Resources
This author has assembled what I can only describe as an exhaustive list of articles and resources on creative spaces.
Designing Your Optimal Creative Environment
Jonathan Vehar describes the spaces of well-known creative folks, like Einstein (went fishing), Mahler (had a “composing cottage”), and Kant (wrapped himself in blankets). He then provides some simple questions to ask yourself about your optimal space. Useful read.
A wise woman I know has encouraged me to take on a beginner’s mind, and closely re-examine words I thought I knew. Looking up common words in the dictionary is a simple but powerful activity. Understanding actual meaning can be a powerful way to get clear around my work.
Today, I started with the word “create”.
Create
to cause to come into being, as something unique that would not naturally evolve or that is not made by ordinary processes
to evolve from one’s own thought or imagination, as a work of art or an invention.
to cause to exist; to bring into being
What I like about these definitions is how active they are – to cause, to evolve, to bring into being. The definitions suggest work, not magic.
In addition, “Not made by ordinary processes” jumps out at me. It suggests that the creativity is not just about what you make but how you make it. Tools and processes themselves can evolve, initially sparking new ideas, but lose their luster over time. It is important to regularly question the impact of tools on the output.
When working in large groups or teams, it can be hard to know how things are going. Was this meeting useful? Did a workshop session go well? Is there some issue that needs to be addressed, something no one is talking about?
Regularly asking people for their observations and feedback accomplishes two important things. First, it assures the group that their input has been received. Second, criticism, both good and bad gets out in the open.
The Method
I use a really simple method for getting quick feedback: I pass out two stickies to each person. A green one is for positive feedback—what’s working, what you like. The pink one is for criticism—what isn’t working, what needs improvement, what you don’t like. I give people a minute or two to write something down then collect all the stickies. I transcribe all the responses (takes a couple of minutes) and send them back to the group.
This method gets you a lot of feedback quickly, much of it directly actionable. The format is simple and anonymous. The limited physical size of the stickie keeps people focused.
Using the Results
Collecting and quickly sharing the results is critically important. Openness about criticism, both positive and negative, can mitigate potentially toxic side conversations and prevent problems from turning in to a major crisis. It can also be incredibly effective to show members of the team the diversity of experience and opinion within the group.
How you communicate the results can depend on the culture of your organization. I like to send out the raw list to the meeting participants before synthesizing. Sometimes I will include a summary the results with some immediate actions identified.
When to Use
I’ve used this technique at Adaptive Path, where folks are typically open and relaxed, to get periodic feedback on the content and format of our weekly practice meeting. I’ve also done this mid-workshop with execs from a Fortune 100 financial organization. The client responded strongly and favorably to providing feedback and seeing other responses. This helped us gracefully get through the “valley of despair” that occurs mid-stream in long work sessions. We were also able to adjust the content of the workshop mid-stream to address concerns.
Let me know
If you try this out, let me know how it goes. I’m always curious how techniques like these work in different cultures and teams.
Over the last day or so, there has been some buzz around Marc Andreeson’s post “Brainstorming is a Bad Idea” with Scott Berkun writing a succinct and useful response “In defense of brainstorming.”
I posted my response by writing “Skills and Practice Make Brainstoring Useful” on Adaptive Path’s blog today.
Yesterday, I promised to write about the six basics of teams from that Wisdom of Teams as they had worked in my experience with design teams. I am in the final days of preparation for UX Week so, while I intend to go through these, I don’t have as much time to dedicate this week as I had hoped.
Creativity, Collaboration, and Consensus in London
This September, Leisa Reichelt, designer, writer, and speaker at UX Week will be giving a workshop in London on techniques designers can use to productively involve clients and other team members in UX work. Full details…
Perhaps every one has read the Wisdom of Teams
and I’m just late to the party, but so far so good.
Over the next week or so, I am going to explore each of the six “team basics” Katzenbach and Smith have identified in their research and see how they apply to design teams.
The six team basics are:
small number (fewer than twelve)
complimentary skills
common purpose
common set of specific performance goals
commonly agreed upon working approach
mutual accountability
The list looks deceptively simple, yet few teams I have ever been on have mastered all six. Sometimes the mix of skills is a little off or the performance goals are fuzzy or each person sees the problem at hand in a very different way. I am looking forward tot his exploration.
Every once in a while a simple little innovation comes along that is just so useful you wonder how you every lived without it. Draft dots—little round circles of drafting tape, neatly dispensed from a convenient box—are now a can’t-live-without collaboration tool, as critical as sharpies and stickies.
Draft dots are intended for use in drafting applications to hold sheets of drawing paper. Dots have enough adhesion to firmly hold the paper in place but, unlike scotch tape, can be removed without damaging the paper. This removability makes them perfect for temporary, no-damage wall displays or, my favorite, using them in brainstorming sessions to fill the walls with people’s ideas.
You can buy draft dots at many art supply stores like Flax, Pearl Paint or Dick Blick. They are typically located in the drafting supplies area, along with templates, compasses, and grid paper. You can also order dots online.
1. Make Ideas Visible
During brainstorming sessions, it’s critical that you work visually and in quantity. Getting ideas off the table and up on the wall can inspire the team and give the team a sense of momentum and accomplishment.
2. Turn Any Wall Into a Work Space
With draft dots, you can make any wall a workspace. I’ve facilitated collaborative work sessions in shiny conference rooms with no whiteboards, tacking ideas and artifacts to windows, tables, and closet doors.
3. Build Layered Paper Prototypes
Take one of those draft dots, fold it into a little tube adhesive side out and you can make removable layers of paper. This can be great for quickly communicating state changes.
4. Display Artifacts from a Work Session
After a work session, it can be good citizenship (and great for the acceptance of your work) to make your progress visible. Be a rogue and use draft dots to temporarily attach your ideas, models, concepts, or interface designs to a visible wall in a highly trafficked area.
5. Make Larger Work Surfaces
Play Macgyver with your office supplies. If you need a large work space for drawing, attach several pieces of 8 ½ x 11 together.
“While a man, infatuated with the promises of greatness, wastes his hours and days in attendance and solicitation, the honest opportunities of improving his condition pass by without his notice; he neglects to cultivate his own barren soil, because he expects every moment to be placed in regions of spontaneous fertility, and is seldom roused from his delusion but by the gripe of distress, which he cannot resist, and the sense of evils which cannot be remedied.”
Samuel Johnson: Rambler #163 (October 8, 1751)
I am conflicted about idleness, sometimes to my creative detriment. Isn’t idleness laziness? In truth, though, I know that my creative output is richer when I balance it with daydreaming and wandering. I simply know I can’t be on and creative all the time — I need to regenerate.
So do teams. How, in a team environment, can you cultivate your team’s barren soil? Do you need lots of uninterrupted time together? Or time apart? Should you allow for individual idleness or idle together — maybe go to the movies as a group?
Happy weekend, people. Go be idle.
Cecil Vortex, on Conversations About Creativity, interviews artists, writers, and others on their creative process. This month, he has an interview with visual artist Tucker Nichols, creator of Postcards from Vermont and the What a Day web site.
I pulled out some of the things Tucker, a self-supporting artist, does to keep his creative juices flowing:
Routine
Tucker start his day the same way – feeds the cats, eats breakfast, does a new drawing for his What a Day web site, has a morning “status” meeting (see below).
Idleness
Idleness, so undervalued in our do-do-do culture, is critical to creativity. Tucker works in his garden and takes long walks to clear his head and give his mind space to work and play.
Conversation
On the What a Day site, several people have started using his daily drawings to spark their own creative work. This dialog enriches Tucker’s own work.
Experiment with Context
Tucker draws wherever he goes—even at the dentist’s office. He looks at the effect those environments have on him. (He trashed his dentist drawings – they sucked, he felt. So now he knows what it’s like to draw at the dentist!)
Morning “Status” Meetings
Tucker works alone but has his own team meetings each morning. He lets all the staff members in his head report in on what they are doing and what their next steps are.
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