Conferencia Magistral Bruce Corson

Corson Associates © 2010
So, What’s the Problem?
Strategies for Improving Collaborative Design
ITESM Querétaro Campus
October 6, 2010
Bruce Corson
Studio for Pre-Expert Creativity
Corson Associates
Sebastopol, CA
bruce@corson-associates.com

So, what’s the problem?
or
So, what is the problem?

A lesson from the Kennedy Space Center:
A ‘roof’ over a large public eating plaza that no one uses.

UnUn nidonido dede gorrióngorrión

“Todos los errores serios
se cometen el primer día.”
“All the serious mistakes
are made the first day.”
via Eberhardt Rechtin

“No confunda un método de solución
con una definición del problema –
especialmente si es su proprio método de solución.”
“Don’t mistake a solution method
for a problem definition –
especially if it’s your own solution method.”
Donald C. Gause / Gerald M. Weinberg

Conventional ‘Expert’ Collaboration A ‘Pre-Expert’ Collaboration
the problematic situation
Two very different concepts of ‘collaborative’ design

Expert
C
Expert
A
Expert
B
Expert
D
Explorer
A Explorer
B
Explorer
D
Explorer
C

“In the beginner’s mind
there are many possibilities -
- in the expert’s mind there are few.”
Shunryu Suzuki

El diseño es:
la transformación intencionada
de una situación actual
a una situación preferida.
Un problema es:
el espacio que separa
la situación actual de
la situación preferida -
la diferencia entre
donde estamos en realidad y
donde esperamos estar.
Nombrar un ‘problema’:
es nuestro intento de explicar esta diferencia.

Existing Situation
Preferred Situation
The ʻProblemʼ

Three Dimensions of Design
Process
ProductPurpose
Delivered System
Delivery System
Discovery System
What is the “situation” ?
Why do we care about it ?
What are our interests in it?
How do others feel about it?
What is our purpose in
responding to it?
How shall we organize ourselves?
What tools and techniques will we need?
How will we communicate?
What is the output action?
What is the deliverable?
after:Dr. Richard Evans, NASA/NSD

There are many types of ‘problems’
- and many ways to think about them.

"Problem"
"Answer"
+ +
Situation
Response
- +
We need to change how we think about the
relationship between ‘problems’ and ‘solutions’:
“One of the lessons of this conflict is, for God sakes,
think about how your enemy reacts to your actions.”
Robert McNamara - on 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
“Problem” “Answer”
or is it: or is it:
Is it the type we
learn in school:

Three Types of ‘Problems’
Type 1: solution requires more information or better techniques
for handling existing information.
(linear and one-directional)
Type 2: requires restructuring of information already available :
an insight restructuring.
(calls on us to observe our own process)
Type 3: one is blocked - by the adequacy of the present situation
- from moving to a much better one :
the problem of no problem.
(adequate: enough for what is required
-- calls on us to observe and to imagine)
after: The Use of Lateral Thinking, Edward DeBono 1970

Las habilidades de ante-experto Las habilidades de experto
El pensamiento del cerebro derecho El pensamiento del cerebro izquierdo
La consciencia divergente La consciencia convergente
El papel del líder El papel del gerente
Haz lo correcto Haz lo correctamente
EL ENFOQUE SE ESTRECHAEL ENFOQUE SE EXTIENDE
NOMBRAR EL PROBLEMA
El diseño como un ciclo respiratorio
EXPLORAR
El alcance de
la consciencia
Tiempo
?
RESPONDER
!
La innovación =
La imaginación + La realización

Corson-Associates ©2009
EXPLORE RESPOND
FOCUS NARROWSFOCUS EXPANDS
NAME THE PROBLEM
!
Design as a Breathing Cycle
Scope of awareness
Time
?
This Breathing Cycle is an fractal process
of concurrent iterations at many different
scales and frequencies.

How we think about ‘problems’ - and how
we behave as we think about ‘problems’ -
may ultimately cause our designs to fail.

Pre-expert skills Expert skills
ʻRight-modeʼ thinking ʻLeft-modeʼ thinking
Divergent awareness Convergent awareness
Leadership role Management role
‘Doing the right job’ ‘Doing the job right’
EXPLORE RESPOND
NAME THE PROBLEM
Design as a Breathing Cycle
Scope of awareness
Time
? !
Designs can fail in either
the ‘naming’ or the
‘resolution’ phase

Some ‘problems’ can’t be ‘solved’ - they can only be ‘managed’
The Breathing Polarity

The map
is not
the territory.
G. Pahl

What remains unresolved when ‘the map’ is mistaken
for ‘the reality’ of a problematic situation?

?
We use arbitrary models to (try to) represent whole systems

“We must stop acting as though nature were organized into
disciplines in the same way that universities are.”
Russell Lincoln Ackoff
“The division of the perceived universe into parts and
wholes is convenient and may be necessary,
but no necessity determines how it shall be done.”
Gregory Bateson

“The meaning of a whole and a part will concurrently exist
in our mind only when we think about the relationship
between them instead of about the things themselves.”
Amos Ih Tao Chang

Expert
C
Expert
A
Expert
B
Expert
D
Explorer
A Explorer
B
Explorer
D
Explorer
C
The explorer’s responsibility is to discover the whole territory

“Good products or services are like generous hosts. They greet you at the door,
offer you refreshments, and make you feel at home.”
Tom Kelley
A good designer maximizes the number of users their
design accommodates and minimizes the number it disables.

Corson Associates © 2010 © 1999 The New Yorker
‘Communication’ requires that the
intended meaning is truly received.

A good designer seeks to integrate all
the individual ‘truths’ that may be
affected by their proposed design.

Scientific American / NASA GSFC
Radio Continuum 408 MHz
Atomic Hydrogen 1420 MHz
Radio Continuum 2.4-2.7 GHz
Molecular Hydrogen 115 GHz
Far Infrared 12-100 microns
Mid Infrared 6.8-10.6 microns
Visible Light .4-.6 microns
X-ray .25-1.5 kilo-e.v.
Gamma Ray >300 mega-e.v.

“La verdad es esférica
y se la ve diferentemente según
la cultura,
el temperamento y
la disposición
de los que la contemplan.”
“Truth is spherical
and seen differently according to the
culture,
temperament and
disposition
of those who survey it.”
Bronson Alcott

“Tengo un foco de una clase peculiar,
tendo a ver todo a la vista.”
"I have a peculiar kind of focus,
I tend to see everything in sight."
Robert Rauschenberg
“Observing is making sense of sensation.”
R. And M. Root-Bernstein
“Discovery consists of seeing what everybody
has seen and thinking what nobody has
thought.”
Szent-Györgyi:

Left-mode (“IQ”)
analytic, abstract,
digital, logical, linear
Right-mode -
synthetic, concrete,
analogic, intuitive, holistic
Lateral thinking
Emotional intelligence (“EQ”)
Social intelligence
Spiritual intelligence (“SQ”)
Thinking skills
Observing
Imaging
Abstracting
Recognizing patterns
Forming patterns
Analogizing
Body thinking
Empathizing
Dimensional thinking
Modeling
Playing
Transforming
Synthesizing
from R. and M. Root-Bernstein
Intelligences and Thinking Skills
“having -” vs. “being -” a genius

RESPOND
Expert skills
ʻLeft-modeʼ thinking
Convergent awareness
Management role
‘Doing the job right’
FOCUS NARROWS
Specifications, Requi rements, ‘Design Programs’, etc.
Most ‘specifications’ are rigid and inelegant ‘problem names.’
Scope of awareness
Time
? !
EXPLORE
FOCUS EXPANDS
Pre-expert skills
ʻRight-modeʼ thinking
Divergent awareness
Leadership role
‘Doing the right job’

“Lo contrario de una declaración corecta
es una declarción falsa,
pero lo contrario de una verdad profunda
puede ser una otra verdad profunda.”
“The opposite of a correct statement
is a false statement,
but the opposite of a profound truth
may well be another profound truth.
Niels Bohr

“To be able to hold comfortably in one’s mind the validity
and usefulness of two contradictory truths is the source of
tolerance, openness, and, most important, a sense of
humor, which is the greatest enemy of fanaticism.”
Neil Postman

(Unas Verdades Contradictorias para Considerar)
La jerarquía La igualdad
El individualismo El colectivismo
La competencia La cooperación
La certeza La ambigüedad
La perspectiva a
largo plazo
La perspectiva a
corto plazo
adapted from Geert Hofstede:
Cultures and Organizations
Mexico (statistical average)
USA (statistical average)
Las Cinco Dimensiones de la Cultura Mundial

Do the job rightDo the right job
5. 'Problem' resolved3. Name the 'Problem'1. Sense the 'Situation'
2. Explore the 'Situation'
Principal Concern
Design Stage:
High
Low
Time DeadlineAwareness
Remaining unknown situation
Range of attention
'Problem" as understood
4. Resolve the 'Problem'
Uncertainty
Allowing early uncertainty to increase leads to a
predictable reduction in future uncertainty.

5. 'Problem' resolved
Principal Concern
Design Stage:
1. Sense the 'Situation'
2. Explore the 'Situation'
3. Name the 'Problem'
Do the right job Do the job right
High
Low
Time DeadlineAwareness
Remaining unknown situation
Range of attention
'Problem" as understood
4. Resolve the 'Problem'
Uncertainty
Rushing to minimize initial uncertainty leads to
a predictable increase in future uncertainty.

Blinded by their own false certainty,
the ‘roof experts’ mistakenly design
a first-class bird sanctuary.

Nombrar el problema
con cuidado,
conscientemente,
y no apretarlo mucho.
Name the problem
very carefully
very consciously and
don’t hold it too tightly.

Creative exploration is the key to
discovering the opportunity spaces in
which elegant problem names reside.

La creatividad:
la combinación de la voluntad y la habilidad
para descubrir y
engranar productivamente
los espacios de oportunidad
que existen más allá de la conciencia previa.
• las creencias
• el coraje
• la persistencia

La identificación/ articulación de problemas
Ver nuevas pantas de la conducta o acción
La integración por las disciplinas
Crear nuevas ideas
La comodidad sin “repuestas correctas”
La curiosidad fundamental
La originalidad y la inventiva en el trabajo
La resolución de problemas
La habilidad de tomar riesgos
La tolerancia de la ambigüedad
Transmitir nuevas ideas a otros
La resolución de problemas
La integración por las disciplinas
Ver nuevas pantas de la conducta o acción
La originalidad y la inventiva en el trabajo
Transmitir nuevas ideas a otros
Crear nuevas ideas
La tolerancia de la ambigüedad
La habilidad de tomar riesgos
La identificación/ articulación de problemas
La curiosidad fundamental
La comodidad sin “repuestas correctas”
89 ejecutivos 155 educadores
Las manifestaciones de la creatividad más frecuemente citadas
The Conference Board 2008
(3 elecciones por participante)

Pre-expert skills Expert skills
ʻRight-modeʼ thinking ʻLeft-modeʼ thinking
Divergent awareness Convergent awareness
Leadership role Management role
‘Doing the right job’ ‘Doing the job right’
EXPLORE RESPOND
NAME THE PROBLEM
How the ‘real world’ values the design Breathing Cycle
Scope of awareness
Time
? !
Business executives
value problem-naming
Education executives
value problem-solving

Searching for elegant problem names
will lead to elegant problem solutions.

Elegance
“Richness and polish in harmonious simplicity.”
range of issues successfully addressed
resources required
Elegance =
Una simplicidad armoniosa de la riqueza y el pulimento.

52,560 data points
From Edward Tufte
Sunshine in London
(One year in 5-minute increments)

Vulture wing - metacarpal
Sydney Harbor Bridge
Jumping Cholla - skeleton

NASA y la elegancia
“Algunas veces me presentan los resultos de un análisis de sistemas de
tal forma que me obliga a hacer estas preguntas:
”¿ Está bien, pero es realmente un buen sistema?
¿ A usted le gusta?
¿ Es harmonioso?
¿ Es una solución elegante a un problema real?”
Usualmente recibo como repuesta una mirada perpleja y una expresión
indicandome que acabo de decir algo realmente obsceno.”
Robert Frosch : NASA Administrator, 1977-1981

the problematic situation
An inelegant process and an elegant process

Expert
C
Expert
A
Expert
B
Expert
D
Explorer
A Explorer
B
Explorer
D
Explorer
C

“In the beginner’s mind
there are many possibilities -
- in the expert’s mind there are few.”
Shunryu Suzuki

Las habilidades de ante-experto Las habilidades de experto
El pensamiento del cerebro derecho El pensamiento del cerebro izquierdo
La consciencia divergente La consciencia convergente
El papel del líder El papel del gerente
Haz lo correcto Haz lo correctamente
EL ENFOQUE SE ESTRECHAEL ENFOQUE SE EXTIENDE
NOMBRAR EL PROBLEMA
El diseño como un ciclo elegante
EXPLORAR
El alcance de
la consciencia
Tiempo
?
RESPONDER
!
La innovación =
La imaginación + La realización

Use an elegant format for discovery
after:Dr. Richard Evans, NASA/NSD
use:
The objective of discovery is to free the smallest voice
- it is not to yield to the loudest voice.
(“Here are some of our ideas.”)
1
2
3
(“There is no way I’m saying a word.”)
4
not:

Performance differential attributed to unique leadership style:
“a paradoxical combination of fierce resolve and humility.”
The design success of Level 5 organizations

(In Catholicism, Pride is the first of the Seven Deadly Sins.)
Pride: having an unduly high opinion of oneself, arrogance.
Humility: consciousness of one’s own shortcomings, modesty.
‘Level 5’ Organizations:
after:Good-to-Great, Jim Collins 2001
• performance: radically better that competitors.
• leadership: a ‘paradoxical’ combination of humility and resolve.

Level 5 organizations:
• implement solutions that are inherently more elegant
than their competitors’
• those elegant solutions can come only from elegant
problems
• those elegant problems can come only from elegant
processes of exploration
• those elegant processes of exploration are driven by
‘humility’ - knowing that what we think we “know” is small
compared to what there really is to know.
Level 5 organizations practice elegant design

Expert
C
Expert
A
Expert
B
Expert
D
Explorer
A Explorer
B
Explorer
D
Explorer
C

Intellectual
PhysicalEmotional/Spiritual
Exhale
Inhale
Diverge
Converge
Inward
Outward
Heart
Function
Structure
Purpose
The Dimensions of Being

Muchas Gracias

Conferencia Magistral Bruce Corson

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