Archiv der Kategorie: Creativity

Creativity covers the area from idea generation to concept development.

What actually disturbs solving a problem?

An enemy of problem solving is the problem blindness. Problems exist, where the targets are not reached. This happens in simple activities exactly like in complex, long-term activities and projects. Even established solutions fail because of the perception of the acting people. What actually disturbs solving a problem?

Problem

The following aspects disturb solving a problem.

  • There is no problem
    Sometimes we recognize problems, where actually are none. It can be a task that is yet finished, which simply take a certain time. In other cases the problems are so big that we do not recognize them, e.g. today’s economic crises or the social shifts. Accordingly problems can be so small that we overlook them. This includes the damages that we expect in our body, by the intake of certain medicines or the drinking of water that is polluted below safety level. Already looking in another direction prevents the timely recognition of a problem. Everybody, who paid attention to the right hand traffic at a crossing and was hit from the left side, knows this. Eventually it also could be that maybe there is simply no problem.
  • The problem is not sufficiently specified
    Sometimes it is a certain cause that is missing. Who did not ever switch the PC on and the monitor remained black? If something is missing on the checklist in your head, the screen will remain dark. The way to solving the problem can be also obstructed by an insufficient description of the effects. We take our PC that is running in the meantime. Unfortunately the familiar Windows user interface does not appear. As long as your hotline does not get the message “Please do not power off or unplug your machine …”, the specialist pokes around in the dark. It becomes also very difficult, if too much information is presupposed. Thus, copying a text will become a problem for a computer beginner, if he does not know the available functions for the operation of a mouse: Clicks, double clicks, pressed mouse button, etc.
  • The problem gets stuck in unconscious assumptions
    Sometimes simply the words are missing, in order to seize the problem. Technicians often wonder that their perfect solutions do not get the expected acceptance by the customer. They overlook that customers do not consider the technical, but also the emotional aspects of the design, the usability and the haptics. Frequently the solution hides itself behind logical conclusions that are imposed by our experience. We remember the Fosbury Flop, i.e. the technology of high jump that reached new heights by the “back first” technique over the bar. Previously, everybody implied that one would have to jump forward over the bar. But it is only a matter to jump across a bar as high as possible without any means.
  • The solution is stuck in a dead end
    Sometimes, you are simply too late, because somebody else already solved the problem. If for example a colleague already put the plug of the supply cord back into the socket (see above). The solutions that we do not want are uncomfortable, because we don’t like them. Imagine that you have two important appointments at the same time in the calendar. You would not like to leave one to a colleague. But many difficulties cannot be solved alone. Then, you need the help of somebody. Some problem solutions fall into stagnation, because nobody needs them at exactly this moment. Eventually it exists always the possibility that there is no solution at all. The earlier you understand it, the better.

Bottom line: A clear problem awareness is the key to the solution.

Critics, Curators and Commentators

The media need a continuous flow of contents that are sent, printed or posted. Every little topic or subject finds its own access to its audience. Hundreds of TV channels are broadcasting around the clock. Likewise many magazines flood the newsstands. Apparently, this bulk cannot be supplied anymore with first-hand contents. The creative power shifts slowly into the second row. Critics, curators and commentators become more important than authors, artists and other cultural producers.

Kritiker

It is actually practical, if people take over the task to sift through the flood of information and to prepare bite-sized pieces. Newscasters, correspondents, experts and contemporary witnesses comment around the clock on daily events. There are already evolving new formats that review and consolidate the flood of criticisms and comments. This way valuable broadcasting minutes get filled with repetitions and annotated comments. Breakfast programs, lunchtime shows, afternoon formats and eventually night programs are developed around original contents.

What is actually happening, if the creativity of the doers gets lost and becomes shifted to this monotonous re-use?

It is easier to report on others, than coming up with something by yourself. The lengthy work of a writer is naturally less attractive for the today’s sprinters, who only have the breath for the short distance, than the quick comment in radio or television programs. Thus, one processes more books per year, as if one would have to write them.

Everyday things become news in the absence of doers, who fill the existing broadcasting time of the audiovisual media and the pages in the print media and the Internet. Accordingly the feuilletons observe the red carpets and celebrate royal newborns. Various weekday formats explain the newest diets or culinary arts. In science formats the Stone Age is reported and scenarios are developed, about what would happen, if humans would disappear from one day to the other. In technology formats new cars are tested and old ones get pimped. Eventually the same is discussed and repeated regularly. Always the same museums, theaters, authors, filmmakers and artist are presented in the public.

Bottom line: The culture becomes impoverished by soft-washed ruminating of few original contents. Instead of reporting on new, not yet established makers, they always pass on the same participants from one channel to the other, from one feuilleton to the next. The spectators lose essential lifetime by being entertained with short repetitions of critics, curator sand commentators that they do not need. The creativity of producing original works and the required stamina go pop. In the end the contents does not count anymore, but only the new format. This could be the beginning of an unproductive era that does not leave anything behind but gimmicky critics, curators and commentators, who contribute nothing else to the culture than their vociferous formats.