In Favor Of Messing Around
By Don Moyer, Principal, Agnew Moyer Smith Inc.
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| Don Moyer |
Get up in the morning. Go to work. Set goals. Define tasks. Get
busy. The path to success practiced tirelessly by millions. But
wait, there's a lot to be said for a less driven approach—meandering,
tinkering, playing, and dabbling—messing around.
Some messing around is a good thing. Free-wheeling, inquisitive
experimentation without rigidly defined aims is worthwhile, not
worthless. That's my premise.
If you already agree with me, you can skip this article and use
this time to go mess around. If you need to be convinced, let me
make my case.
First, let's define terms. For me, messing around means working
with freedom. It's like playing with a purpose—exploring some
topic with no rigid goals, no particular agenda, no clients, no
deadlines, and no specific deliverables in mind. But it is actively
working. Vegetating on the couch is not the kind of messing around
that I'm proposing.
You probably messed around a lot when you were a kid. A kid's number-one
job is messing around; experiencing unplanned encounters with people,
places, and things. If you and your friends ever spent an afternoon
exploring the possibilities inherent in a discarded refrigerator
shipping carton, you know what messing around is.
Adults mess around, too. A designer trying to coax new possibilities
out of a sheet of polystyrene is messing around. An engineer who
is fiddling with the notion of adding RFID tags to products may
be messing around. A manager who is toying with the idea of combining
two teams into one could be messing around. If they are working
off the leash without goals or requirements imposed by someone else,
they're probably messing around.
Of course, I'm not proposing that messing around replace all structured,
deadline-driven, deliverable-delivering work. Businesses still need
that. But if some portion of your time isn't devoted to messing
around, you're missing a great opportunity.
Why Mess Around?
1
First, it can make you smarter. As Roger Schank pointed out in
Connoisseur's Guide to the Brain, we learn best at the
moment our expectations are violated. When results surprise us,
we are most open to accommodating a new insight. Messing around
pushes us into territory where there are likely to be surprises.
If you pay attention to what happens, you can learn a lot.
2
Messing around can stimulate creativity. At its core, creativity
is about making new connections between seemingly unconnected things.
To paraphrase Mark Twain: Creativity is the sudden marriage of ideas
that before their union were not even perceived to be dating. Messing
around can take you somewhere unfamiliar. The probability of making
new matches is much higher if you're traveling through territory
you've never seen before.
Messing around also helps creativity by removing the pressure to
perform. With no clients and deadlines to distract you, the heat
is off. Somehow this freedom helps you think better. I call this
the Shower Effect because when you're engaged in the mindless routine
of taking a shower and there's no expectation that you'll do anything
brilliant, you often have grade-A ideas.
3
Messing around is good fertilizer. Not all your messing produces
results you can use right away. Often, no matter how hard you try,
the pieces won't come together in a useful way. But that doesn't
mean that your messing was a waste of time. Insights from today's
messing around can take root months, or even years, later in the
compost you laid down while messing around today.
Sometimes the germination period for an idea can be pretty long.
Mathew Carter, world-renowned typeface designer, pointed out recently
that the typeface Walker he created in 1995 for the Walker Art Center
in Minneapolis, features "snap-on serifs" derived from
unusual accent elements he encountered 20 years earlier while working
on a typeface for setting Hindi texts. You may need to be patient.
There's no way to be sure that an experience will ever spark a
useful innovation, but it's clear that the more experiences you
have, the more material you have to work with. Messing around is
a way to accumulate experiences that you may not get anywhere else.
Fences Needed
Although messing around means working without restrictions imposed
by someone else, it doesn't mean you'll be working with no limits.
You need to build your own fence around your playground to focus
your efforts.
Award-winning, Scottish percussionist Evelyn Glennie speaks of
forcing herself to spend a solid week playing a drum without
using a drum stick. Face, feet, breath, hair, water, biscuits, whatever—but
no drum sticks. Assigning limits to her messing around gave her
work focus and increased the chances of interesting results. Imposing
limits is a great way to stimulate innovation.
A special attraction of self-imposed limitations is the option
of moving the fences at any point that suits you. As new opportunities
open up, you're free to change the limitations if you want. If you
are exploring how to improve your apple dumpling recipe and notice
that the crust is affected by folding, you're free to shift your
exploration to different folding techniques, and if that leads you
to study origami, go ahead. You get to decide whether to go wide
or deep, and you can change your mind if you want to.
Nothing gets messing around off to a better start than asking a
provocative question. The right question can put the messing in
a context, give your effort a shape, and channel your energy. Glennie's
question, "What sounds can I make with this drum, without using
a drum stick?" strikes a perfect balance between wide open
and narrow. Someone who asks, "What would our business be like
if we didn't have any inventory at all?" is going to have more
focus than asking, "How can our business be different?"
Since you're just messing around, this is a perfect time to ask
a goofy question.
"How would things work if we did our projects the way Hollywood
makes movies?"
"What would happen if we eliminated the package all together?"
"How could we explain this process without using any words?"
"How would we market this product if we were forced to sell
it at a price twice as high as the competition?"
"What if we were starting from scratch with zero brand recognition?"
Caution: Messing Around Ahead
There are, of course, some problems with messing around. I'll mention
three.
1
Messing around is messy. It can stir up trouble. Along with opportunities
come complications. If you ask provocative questions, some of the
answers are likely to be uncomfortable. I refer to this as stirring
up the mud; like the mud that gets churned up at a construction
site. It is unpleasant and inconvenient but necessary if you want
to complete the construction project.
When you are messing around, don't be a neat freak. Don't try to
keep everything tidy. Allow the mud to appear and worry about cleaning
it up later.
2
Messing around is unpredictable. You never know when results will
appear or if there will be any significant results.
Don't make any promises about results. As soon as you do, your
freedom is gone and that means you're not messing around any more.
You're just working.
3
Messing around gets bumped because almost everything takes precedence
over it. Deadline-driven projects and clients are constantly pushing
themselves forward.
Block out time in your schedule for messing around and take that
commitment seriously. Or give yourself permission for an hour to
mess around when you're just not quite up to the next task on your
docket and you need a break.
Big Finish
In the area between doing nothing and client-driven, deadline-focused
work, there is a broad playground of self-initiated projects and
inspired play that can make you smarter and more productive in the
long run. Visiting this pleasant zone periodically is bound to make
you a more interesting person—and someone who smiles more.
What are you inquisitive about? If time and money were not an issue,
what would you be studying? What are you waiting for?
Don Moyer is a principal at Agnew
Moyer Smith Inc. a Pittsburgh-based communication planning and
design firm. He's currently messing around with word-less stories
about business dynamics.
This article appeared in the February
2004 eBulletin.
Feedback on DMI Viewpoints and article proposals
are always welcome! Please email jtobin@dmi.org.
All articles reflect the opinion of the author and not the Design
Management Institute.
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