Splitting a Problem Into Pieces Then Reassembling It
Another “ThinkerToys” exercise, by Michael Michalko. It’s been a while, but finding time to force the brain to think is hard to do. During the week I have attended several events and heard lots of people talking about community. So when tonight’s Thinkertoy came up I figured that I would tackle the problem of “Improving the Local Creative/Technical Community”.
Exercise: Cherry Split
“Who can determine where one ends and the other begins.” – Sun Tzu
The goal of this exercise is to break a challenge into separate pieces. When this is done you can see new material that had before been part of something else. Reassembling the pieces is slow and awkward, but when they do start to click back together entirely new concepts emerge.
To cherry split:
1. State the essence of your challenge in two words.
“Improving the Local Creative/Technical Community.
IMPROVE COMMUNITY
2. Split the challenge into two separate units.
IMPROVE
COMMUNITY
3. Split each attribute into two more attributes. Do not worry about the correctness of the split.
The book had talked about doing as a group exercise. I was sitting home alone, but figured I could get group input using twitter. I put a call out twitter asking for help… “help me with a creative problem solving exercise.. problem… “improve creative/tech community”.. split into IMPROVE and COMMUNITY…” I got responses from @consumer, @chriscardinal, @brandonfranklin, @africankelli and @alandd.
4. Continue splitting the attributes until you fell that you have enough to work with.
I got full responses from @consumer, @chriscardinal and @brandonfranklin.
5. Examine each attribute for ideas. The wonder of this method is that big ideas can dwell in the most insignifcant attribute just as the flavor of an entire ocean is contained in one drop.
grow – we should be doing things to identify and include new people
strengthen – we need to do things that makes our community stronger, technically/creatively/emotionally
produce – our community should be producing things
thrive – there should be a noticeable energy among our community
reinforce – principles and desired behaviors should be reinforced to see them continued
fortified - the community needs to look out for one another
organization – the community needs to have some sense of structure
execution – we need to do what we say we are going to do
centralization – there needs to be a center point for our community
convenience – participation needs to be low in barrier to entry
leadership – we need strong leaders to guide the community
engagement – we need to dialog internally and externally and participate on all levels
research – we need to continually look for how to get better/advance
effort – we need to always be working our hardest
investigation – we need to see how others are doing it and apply “why”
recordkeeping – we need to document what we do
energy – see thrive/energy
knowledge – we need to constantly be cataloging information and using it
relationship – we need to trust and appreciate each other
inclusive – we need to be tolerant at our very core
traditions – we need an identity that is our own
accepting – we need to embrace even what we dont agree with
tolerant – embrace even that which we dont understand
ritual – we need practiced patterns of doing things
celebration – we need to have fun doing what we do
support – we need to be there for one another in times of need
involvement – we need to participate even when we dont want to
financial – we need to help make sure things have the resources they need
institutional – we need entities/organizations to help us out
awareness – we need to know what challenges we face and where to find help
reciprocity – we need to learn to help one another and return the favor
sharing – we need to multi-use resources
commonality – we need to find our common ground instead of our differences
openness – we need to be open about what we are doing and why
trust – we need to believe that we are all in this together
similarity – we are more alike that we think
ehance – we need to make one another better
magnify - we need to highlight what is important
grow - see grow under improve
invest – see financial, sharing, effort
detail – we need to pay attention to the little things
depth – we need to be looking beyond the surface and the quick fix
6. Try reassembling the attributes. New combinations can induce new perspectives and new ideas. Splitting a challenge into several attributes i like rmoving a dividing panel form between chanbers of very hot and very cold air: New forces rush together, creating new ideas.
This post is already getting really lengthy, so I am going to leave number 6 up to you. Please leave a comment on how we can do some of the above in reassembling for our future. I noticed that growing, thriving/producing high energy and investing in our community are common themes.
More from Derek Neighbors
- Coworking is a commodity. It is a race to the bottom.
- Some Thoughts on the Future of Gangplank
- Break Your Problems Into Pieces and Then Reassemble!
- Make a Mark on Your Customers
- What Do You Spend Your Time On?
You Might Also Be Interested In
- The FruitGuys – Changing the World One Apple at a Time (Tomas Carrillo)
- Response to Thoughts on Gangplank (Chris Conrey)
- Phoenix is a (bad) cell phone company (Tyler Hurst)
Tags: brainstorming, Community, Creativity, crowd sourcing, thinkertoys
Comments (10)
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6. If you hold an event, have goals on what to accomplish.
6) When member of the community produces something we need, we should invest in that product rather than looking elsewhere.
6) As the community grows with the absorption of new people and ideas, we should fortify the new additions by actively nurturing them. Ensure quality growth by guarding against the pernicious effects of perceived isolation, confusion, and hazing that can cause new participants to fall away.
Cool post! I think you could combine ‘financial’ with ‘grow,’ ‘produce,’ and others by introducing a community-based art project. If people pay money to put their name on a brick, might they do the same with individual pieces of something that may come together to create art? Found objects can be combined to make art pieces and involving the community may encourage them to care more and raise funds.
^^ Def. The arts thing is super vital, I feel like, to the “thrive” element. Bringing artists into the fold and getting folks who aren’t artists by trade to participate in art functions (case in point : ReOpen Phoenix) is really galvanizing and gives a big honking energy boost.
An interesting problem breakdown technique. Thanks for publishing it!
A community will rise to it’s level of participation. I have been in organizations that stagnate. They don’t increase power, scope or energy because the members are comfortable where they are. Leaders who don’t push further support the status quo.
Right now, this community of creatives forming in Phoenix is amazing. And it is small. From the list above: strengthen involvement depth and (if I may add) breadth is what we should work on next.
For a truly vibrant creative scene to flourish, we need to to include all ascpects of creativity.
I think that Kristen’s idea of art is important to this outreach. The social media scene in Phoenix seems to be heavily focused on the technical/design side of the creative spectrum, with little visible connects to the art side – visual, mucical or performance.
An integral part of this such outreach needs to include Nicholas’ idea of nurturing new members. This is especially true if we want to expand the role of artists in the community. Nurturing will help strengthen both the breath and depth of involvement in our community as mentioned by Alan.
I think problem solving techniques like this work best when you throw together really odd combinations at the end.
What about “recordkeeping” and “reciprocity”…Maybe we could publish a list of local individuals/teams that have worked together and exchanged services?
“relationship” + “depth”… Do we know each other better than just on the surface, like “Oh yeah I saw him at place X on day Y”?
“investigation” + “ritual”/”traditions”…Do the weekly brownbags at GP count as this? Could we do more of it? Could it take different forms?
“leadership” + “awareness”…Who is leading what? What do they do? What do they need?
“invest” + “celebration”…Could we do community-based crowdfunding of parties and events at Gangplank or elsewhere? If everybody contributed $10, could we hire a live band to play at Hacknight?
“produce” + “commonality”… If we don’t have existing common ground, is there a way we could BUILD some? Create some commonality where once there was none at all? What would it mean to do this?
Yuri,
I absolutely agree. Gangplank has been attempting to include more. It is top priority for our near future. I think people will be amazed about some announcements we will have for 2010.
A community is an interconnected group of people. Strengthening the community would include strengthening the connections between people. If a community is stagnant, connections may be to blame.
That bit of philosophizing was meant to justify my suggestion for an active, promoted Gangplank mailing list, since my connection to other Gangplankers is relatively weak but that doesn’t mean I’m not interested or capable of supporting the community– I’m just not well-connected despite my intentions/efforts to be so. I feel more “in tune with” the defunct Refresh Phoenix, since that list gets emails almost daily.
I am impressed by the way you handled this topic. It is not often I come across a blog with newsworthy articles like yours. I will bookmark your feed to stay up to date with your forthcoming updates. I like it and do preserve up the good work.