

John Cleese on how to be creative - darasen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VShmtsLhkQg

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kyberneticka
If we're going to share this across the entire web, let's give credit where
credit is due: Merlin Mann, Back to Work 62: <http://5by5.tv/s/14y>

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espeed
There is so much truth packed into that 36 mins -- so many juxtapositions --
it would take several hours to reference them all.

For starters, see Rich Hickey's talk on "Hammock-Driven Development" for more
on the "background mind" (<http://blip.tv/clojure/hammock-driven-
development-4475586>), and then see how what Dan Pink is saying about
motivation (<http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation.html>) and what
Sebastian Deterding is saying about gamification
(<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZGCPap7GkY>) all connect into what Cleese is
saying about creativity.

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splicer
In the context of software development, I think his idea that we should switch
from open mode to closed mode when it's time to implement something is dead
wrong. I today I gave a demo of something epic at work that I had developed
exclusively on my own time. The way I managed to get myself to spend 30+ hours
of my free time producing something for work was by remaining in open mode:
i.e. I was playing.

~~~
dazzawazza
You might be missing something here. In the Open mode you came up with your
epic idea. You saw connections that were not immediately obvious and formed
the kernel of the idea.

It takes the closed mode to focus on 'divide and conquer' and implementation
of the idea as envisioned. This doesn't stop you going back in to Open mode to
frequently consider where you are. Judge your work against it's initial goal
etc.

If you are perpetually in Open mode you would continually add new features and
extend the brief and never implement anything. I've worked with those kinds of
people, they are a PITA.... although very creative.

Some people seamlessly switch between open and closed and others are stuck in
one or the other.

I personally struggle to get in to the Open mode. After 30 years of
disciplined coding, leading teams and divide and conquer my mind is highly
specialised. It doesn't mean I'm not creative but it takes me longer to get in
to that mode of thinking.

~~~
splicer
No, I'm fairly certain I was in open mode the entire time I was implementing
the system. It wasn't a single epiphany followed by many hours of implementing
the ideas generated in that epiphany; it was a continuous stream of idea after
idea, with little "what if" explorations. I was experiencing flow:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_%28psychology%29>

I wasn't stressed, thinking about deadlines, or worrying about whether my
system would work or not. I was simply playing, with no goals in mind other
than improve the "beauty" of the system. It was very similar to what I
experience when I'm painting or composing music.

There was another system I developed a few months back - again, exclusively on
my own time. I would only work on it while in open mode. Only once I felt my
"art" was complete did I present it to my manager and a few execs. They loved
it! My system has now replaced the old system and is now part of a real
product. Had I instead tried to develop the system at work, because my boss
said I had to, I highly doubt it would have turned out as good as it did.

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jkmcf
A very important nugget of wisdom is at 27:18. In short: it's very useful to
be creative w/ other people, but you have to be supportive even if you
disagree. Don't tell people "no" or that they are wrong. Provide constructive
redirection.

I watched this last week, and this was my big takeaway. Programmers too often
want to argue about what is right.

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rollypolly
tl;dw: Watch it. It's well worth it. You can spare half an hour.

