Architects-have you improved?

[Tom_Doak]

Thanks to the architect's for responding.  There are a number of really fascinating comments here--from Mr George's 'surround myself with people I can trust', Mr Nugent's not relying on others to 'fill in the blanks' and the recognition of how much that is real and lasting that is 'on the spot' and Mr Pallota's questions about working with 'what you have' and how many sparks come from true 'collaboration' and working with a troupe.  It also brought back Mr Doak's thread from a while back connecting GCA to leading a band.  I happened on a quote from Steve Jobs this morning wondered whether it resonates with the architects here.  He was describing the difference between having a great 'idea' and then doing all of the work to actually make a real thing come out of that idea, he said:

"You know, one of the things that really hurt Apple was after I left John Sculley got a very serious disease. It's the disease of thinking that a really great idea is 90% of the work. And if you just tell all these other people "here's this great idea," then of course they can go off and make it happen [letting others 'fill in the blanks'?].

And the problem with that is that there's just a tremendous amount of craftsmanship in between a great idea and a great product. And as you evolve that great idea, it changes and grows. It never comes out like it starts because you learn a lot more as you get into the subtleties of it. And you also find there are tremendous tradeoffs that you have to make...

Designing a product is keeping five thousand things in your brain and fitting them all together in new and different ways to get what you want[leading a band?]. And every day you discover something new that is a new problem or a new opportunity to fit these things together a little differently.

And it's that process that is the magic.

And so we had a lot of great ideas when we started. But what I've always felt that a team of people doing something they really believe in[surrounding yourself with people you trust, the troupe, the band, collaboration?] is like is like when I was a young kid there was a widowed man that lived up the street. He was in his eighties. He was a little scary looking. And I got to know him a little bit. I think he may have paid me to mow his lawn or something.

And one day he said to me, "come on into my garage I want to show you something." And he pulled out this dusty old rock tumbler. It was a motor and a coffee can and a little band between them. And he said, "come on with me." We went out into the back and we got just some rocks. Some regular old ugly rocks [working with what you have]. And we put them in the can with a little bit of liquid and little bit of grit powder, and we closed the can up and he turned this motor on and he said, "come back tomorrow." And this can was making a racket as the stones went around.

And I came back the next day, and we opened the can. And we took out these amazingly beautiful polished rocks. The same common stones that had gone in, through rubbing against each other like this (clapping his hands), creating a little bit of friction, creating a little bit of noise, had come out these beautiful polished rocks.

That's always been in my mind my metaphor for a team working really hard on something they're passionate about. It's that through the team, through that group of incredibly talented people bumping up against each other, having arguments, having fights sometimes, making some noise, and working together they polish each other and they polish the ideas, and what comes out are these really beautiful stones."

and so I was wondering whether the process of actually making (not just 'designing' but causing to come into being in the real world)--something I've never done and never will do--is anything at all like that?

Chris:

Anybody who's been out there and done it will tell you, it isn't just a matter of somebody thinking big ideas on paper.

Still, as I think Steve Jobs would have agreed, having some great ideas at the start is a very important part of the process. 

[Ed Oden]

Isn't there a difference between proficiency and creativity?  It is almost inevitable that the former improves with experience.  But the latter?  Not necessarily so.  Speaking only for myself, as I get older, I believe my moments of inspiration and pure creativity in life are sharper than they have ever been.  They just happen less frequently than when I was younger.