“I like to remind people that creativity also isn’t a spark; it’s a slog. Every artist, inventor, designer, writer, or other creative in the world will talk about his work being an iterative experience. He’ll start with one idea, shape it, move it, combine it, break it, begin anew, discover something within himself, see a new vision, go at it again, test it, share it, fix it, break it, hone it, hone it, hone it, hone it. This might sound like common sense, but it’s not common practice, and that’s why so many people are terribly uncreative – they’re not willing to do the work required to create something that’s beautiful, useful, desirable, celebrated. No masterpiece was shaped or written in a day. It’s a long slog to get something right. This knowledge and willingness to iterate is what makes the world’s most creative people so creative (and successful).”
― Brendon Burchard
Software is an art. It is a creative endeavor that needs to be shaped, formed and molded.
Business is a science. Business follows processes, rules, timelines, it is repeatable, predictable and controlled.
Art vs. science. Business would like to control the process of creating art and it fails to do so. How many projects have failed to meet their objectives because the “art” wasn’t completed on time. The unknown of art perplexes those who want things to be ordered and controlled. You’ll hear it in the form “we have limited funds”, “we have to get it done by _______” and projects miss their targets. They get done, they cost more and many will miss the so called deadline.
Ask an artist how long it takes to create a work of art and it is likely they won’t be able to tell you. It isn’t about how long it takes, it is about reaching the state of being done. Sometimes the art has to be thrown away and it all starts over. That is what happens when ideas, thoughts and solutions emerge out of a problem. The solution doesn’t follow a schedule, it emerges.
How do your systems and processes enable creativity?
What would need to change?
Agile Principle:
- Responding to change over following a plan
Thinking about Agile 