When we think about the work we do, we tend to think about it in terms of ‘the project’. It’s a kind of universal unit that encapsulates an amount of work to be done, a certain result to be achieved. It is a useful tool when we are trying to manage not only business, but also our lives.
A project usually goes something like this:
Define a problem that requires solving.
Come up with a timeline for implementing this solution.
Solve the problem and finish the project.
Forget about this project, move on to a new project.
This approach is so ubiquitous, that it is hard to see how things could work differently. We are thought this approach already in school: Take this homework, solve the problems, get a grade, done, next. And it carries on into higher (design) education: Here’s a problem, design a solution, write a report, get a grade, done, next.
I suspect that the the idea of the project is something that somehow satisfies a deeply human need for stories. The project is a perfect way of thinking about our lives in terms of a story with a clear beginning, middle and end. A project is a kind of mental bubble that places some things inside and some things outside of scope. This has several downsides:
Firstly, we tend to try and achieve the goal of the project regardless of what happens outside. There might be unintended consequences, environmental, social or otherwise, and we are very likely to ignore these factors. Instead, we will carry on trying to achieve the intended results within the set boundaries of the project, usually pointing to sunk costs as a rationalization of our actions.
Secondly, it makes us less receptive of what is happening outside the scope of the project. There seems to be the idea that our problem somehow has an equal and opposite solution. You cannot act on sudden insights that somehow solve an entirely different problem. Nor are you receptive to serendipitous events or resources that might form an unexpected solution to the problem you are working on. You can only act within the boundaries of the project, boundaries that were set up in advance.
Project thinking is narrow, goal driven thinking. It focuses on explicit knowledge (through a project brief), rather than tacit knowledge(though experiment and experience). It focuses on singular, one-time interventions, rather than continuous improvement. It deals with ambiguity and uncertainty by pushing it outside and ignoring it.
I’m not trying to suggest that the project is the root of all evil, nor that it should be abolished. But I do think we should be aware of these patterns, and try finding different approaches. Here are a few of my own ideas:
Be aware of the fact that neither you as a person nor your project exist in isolation. Rather than focusing on narrowly defined goals and ‘road maps’, think in terms of general direction and environment. Immerse yourself into streams of (relevant and irrelevant) information, constantly searching for insights and resources, especially from new perspectives. Rather than planning and control, focus on creating circumstances where serendipitous events are more likely to occur. Act on whatever turns out to work unexpectedly well.
Parallel prototyping is an attempt to open up the boundaries between projects. The idea is that I work on several entirely different projects at once, and allow thoughts and insights to travel fluidly between them. Prototypes are constantly built, thrown away and recombined into new prototypes. It’s not only an iterative proces, but also a combinatoric one. Ideas from one project may be combined with the technology of another to form something new. I call it ‘Horizontal prototyping’ because I like to think of it as a kind of parallel to Horizontal gene transfer. Horizontal prototyping is inherently devoid of any long-term plan, and focuses instead on maximum tinkering. Approach prototyping not as a carefully planned design, with a bill of materials and technical specs, but more as an act of bricollage, creating from a diverse range of things that happen to be available.
https://medium.com/@wolkenmachine/project-thinking-396b7b8cc8d7#.lkh1y17se
