Tired Innovation

A key takeaway from the last post, Design Thinking_Einstellung Effect, according to a dear friend who is an architect, was, “Don’t try to innovate when you’re tired”. I couldn’t agree more. How does one innovate when the mind, body and soul are feeling crushed by fatigue? There is another perspective to this situation though – famously depicted by Bill Watterson – last minute panic.

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“Last minute panic” is a design world favourite because it justifies (even if only to themselves) all the chaos, disorganisation and quite often, half-baked design solutions that most design firms love to revel in. Yes, business realities and external factors will always impact the process. Every stakeholder will have an influence on the job on hand and yet, if you look at the inner workings of most (not all) design organisations; the chaos and disorganisation are self-inflicted.

There may be a number of reasons why those who are entrusted with organising our world with design solutions themselves are so disorganised. Lack of organisational skills, unwillingness to organise based on the belief that they aren’t accountable to anyone – a common trend amongst design entrepreneurs – causing immense heartburn to the entire team, complacency, and a few others. With the right intent and willingness, all of these factors can be addressed however, there is another reason why design teams suffer but that is a topic for another day.

One key factor that we usually discount for last minute panic is the thrill of being able to scrape that submission through in the last minute. The short lived exuberance, an addiction oft seeded in the days of design education, fizzles out faster than one can enjoy it and as the next assignment comes to the table, the all too familiar fatigue, chaos and disorganisation settles in.

Innovation requires a positive approach, a positive space, positive people and most importantly, a positive intent to produce a meaningful solution. So yes, please “don’t try to innovate when you’re tired”.

However, if “tired” is your usual state of mind then introspection is the key.

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