Unrelated to my primary design initiative, I have been trying to solve some issues for an upcoming experiment. Having had a few nagging problems which I haven't had the inspiration or sheer willpower to solve for some time now, I invited a colleague to share my burden, and at least mitigate stress by sharing it.
As it turned out, we ended up flying through the issues that had been bumming me out. As I should have known, bringing someone with a fresh, unburdened perspective shed much new light on a problem which I really thought I had extensively explored already. I'm internalizing more and more every day that design has to be a conversation, because my design soliloquy -- my own opinions just circling each other round and round -- are getting me absolutely no where on my independent project. Maybe there's a way I can dutifully role play different sides of a conversation, but I think not.
One other thing I wonder, and I wonder if it is at all a thought worth wondering, is whether the partnership today made the problem solving more physical. When together, we passed things back and forth, pulled, tugged and played with our material (a couple of data logging receivers), and the problem took on a much more physical significance than when I simply roll it around in my hands myself. Though our different perspectives was the meat of what made it a good brainstorming session, perhaps the co-animation of the materials concerned gave us both a better perspective.
Anyhow, seeing the fruits of collaboration, I am still hesitant to engage it. Everyone at work has their myriad of responsibilities which I don't really want to pull them out of to partake in a bit of brainstorming, which, while productive, takes time. And time isn't a luxury, because there are a great deal of things that just need straightforward, but time consuming, plug and chug work.
I wonder what a Brainstorm-Lite looks like.
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