A few weeks ago I ran into a lawyer that didn’t think he was creative, but he did work in a media, law, and juries - that just doesn’t get done without finding the whitespace and filling it, and gut-level intuition to bias an outcome towards a trial. Sure, it’s not putting paint on paper, but it’s still design.

Our media differ. Our decisions differ. Our outcomes differ. Our critical frameworks differ. Yet, in the face off all these differences, it’s still design. I’n tired of the chasm.

Thanks.

Regarding working together versus working in groups. I would build on Bernie’s comment and agree it is a question of WHEN.

At the start of the project and at the end are the best times to work together. In the middle development stages it is probably best to work individually. Gamasutra have a lovely little graphic on their rapid prototyping feature to illustrate the concept.

Best
Ed

I agree. There is a need and tremendous value to have people work in groups.

Some years ago I had a gut feeling along the same lines as the research. I discovered a relatively easy way to deal with it. Once the focus of the thinking has been clearly defined I have the group members first do some individual creative thinking. They then share the results and allow the group synergy to build on what they came up with on their own.

Bernie

Bernie

Thanks for the comment. I dont know what is the “real” answer to the question whether individuals or groups produce more creativity, but it is an interesting point for me because i work almost exclusively with groups. The reason for working with groups, though, is not because they are expected by me to be more creative, but because in most issues in a company these days no single person can: a) have all the required knowledge and b) be able to push forward an initiative or a new idea that would come up in the session.
So if the Dutch researchers are right, and since we DO need to work in groups for the above mentioned reasons, it explains why our role as facilitators is so necessary (sorry for what may sound like a somewhat egocentric conclusion), and why the feeling is so often that the task is not at all easy. It is that we are putting people, for creativity-extraneous reasons, in a creativity-inhibiting context. The rest is just an attempt at compensation for the handycap.
Amnon

I not only used to believe it - I used to teach it.

Two Dutch researchers discovered just the opposite. They write, “Most people believe that idea generation is best performed in groups… However, controlled research has consistently shown that people produce fewer ideas and ideas of lower quality when they work in a group as compared with when they work alone. Thus, contrary to popular belief, group interaction inhibits the ideation process.”

The full report is available (for a price) at http://psr.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/10/3/186

Thansk for your comment. First, i looked up your blog and found that you are “a Mom, a marketer and a mountain climber”. Three abilities that i admire, but only from afar, for physiological, sociological and psychological reasons respectively. So i automatically give much weight to your experience(:
I want to clarify - i still believe that subconcious incubation can deliver insights and creativity, I just stopped believing it can be trusted to do so in a reliable and consistent manner.
hope to talk more
Amnon