Many organisations desire the benefits that creativity and innovation offer them and yet they are put off by, and often even fear the messy consequences that creativity brings with it. In June 2014 I published the first version of the Creativity Ebb n Flow Meter, a tool designed to help people see past that fear.
The purpose of this machine is to highlight the fact that creativity is not binary. You don’t just switch it on – you adjust the dials according to your organisation’s prevailing culture, and tease it out. Don’t fear it, play with it.
I received some great feedback when V1.0 was published and I incorporated much of that feedback into V1.2. This is the first time I have shared V1.2 on here, previously it has appeared on Twitter, Google Plus and Facebook, but not the blog. As you can see – V1.2 contains a few improvements, namely a wider choice of beverages, a suspend judgement button, and it is now powered by imagination. Sadly the ham and eggs option had to go – it made a funny smell and was just too messy.
Once again I benefitted from a lot of encouragement and feedback when this second version saw the light of day, and I have finally got round to incorporating that feedback into this, the third version of the Creativity Ebb n Flow Meter.
This time the main changes are the inclusion of feedback, a pain dial, a deadline alert and a scarcity slider, necessity is the mother of invention and all that jazz. Wine is also now available. I’ve had a lot of fun designing and evolving this machine, and in addition, the three versions that have emerged also demonstrate the iterative nature of many creative processes. As you can see – I’m getting tight for space now, but if I was to make further modifications, what changes would you suggest?
Doug, as always a stimulating read and imaginative response, but it seems your meter is all about “How?” and had nothing of the “Why?” Should there not be measures of need and motivation?
Just a thought.
Ian.
Thanks Ian – I appreciate your observation, and perhaps there is some implicit why in there. The inclusion of feedback was intended as a means of encouragement, and maybe pain, scarcity and mistakes could induce some degree of need and motivation too? I will think about how to bring purpose more to the fore in any future iterations.
Cheers – Doug
Maybe a flashing (police or ambulance) light on the top to illustrate urgency?
Nice idea thanks Ian. I’ve also had this suggestion from Philip on Facebook: ‘A share or collaboration button so your creativity can include others – a bit like a social media share icon.’
How about an exclusion override, or an inclusion radar?
Sleep quantity/quality?
Ian, Meg, Lydia – thanks. These are all excellent suggestions – I’m going to have to make further modifications! 🙂