“Lone Genius” or Groupthink?

[Trace One]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html

 

are you a lone genius problem solver or do you prefer groupthink? One of my pet peeves – the rise of groupthink, charettes, and the mediocrity of thought that ensues, IMHO. The Fukushima disaster fueled my flames – the groupthink of Japanese society that I have always respected as getting terrific results allowed the corruption and lack of thought that went into siting and proliferation of nuclear power in a country that could be entirely geo-thermal.

[Serah Sibley]

i completely agree with the article.  groupthink is a bad direction.  it doesn’t work and you can see that constructed into our built environment.  appearing more and more.  i appreciated the differentiation between groupthink and group work.  but think that the latter cannot work until we begin to honor solitude & intelligence.  integrity will be important also.

[Travis Rice]

Trace One…thanks so much for posting this article.   This article put into words the way I have always felt.  I don’t know how many times I have sat in meetings looking at a project and having to listen to someone talk just to hear themselves talk…”well what if we do this or what if we do this or what if we do this….blah blah blah?”  Then they look at me as if I should be ready to affirm their random thinking and my response is always “I have no idea…it has to be studied”  Wasted energy…its exhausting.   This article goes against the majority of the philosophies of many design offices out there producing one mediocre idea after another right now.   ID firms like IDEO have set a bit of a “collaboration” precedent that naive office princples feel should automatically work for any sort of design problem…it just doesn’t.  The phrase “lone genius” is misleading though as it seems to project one individual above his or her peers. I would rather see a phrae like “lone thinker” or something used… because not everything done in solitude is genius by any means. Thanks again.

[Jason T. Radice]

I, too, agree. Why should my genius be diluted by other’s lethargy and ineptitude? I always hated group projects in skool, as some person or people (usually me) carried the group, and they share the grade. Or even worse, they can bring you down! Also, you likely are left doing an inordinate share of the responsibilities. If you have a good team that you work with, however, the product can become greater than the sum of it parts, but you need a good and diverse team. Not easy to come by. I’ve been lucky on occasions to work with some good people, making group think an effective tool. Usually, it is brainstorming sessions, then an indivudual takes it over. That said, much of the work is then undone in reviews by those not involved in the project weighing in and making themselves sound important. Charettes, especially involving the public, exacerbate the problem. Great, a bunch of lay-people making decisions about something which they know nothing about and are being manipulated to the decision the developer wants. We all know the saying; “A person is smart, people are stupid.” There it is.

 

There may be no ‘I’ in team, but there is a ‘me’.

  

[Tosh K]

The Japanese education system post-WWII (semi-imposed by the US military occupation) encourages to follow and not lead, thereby discouraging “independent” thinkers that think outside-the-box (ie prevent another rise of expansionist policy). They like to have a plan A and not challenge it.

I think both sides as posed by this article has problems.  Design-by-committee has always shown problems, but public charrette’s give ownership and a sense of community involvement that can be valuable in the meaning of designed places (increase ability to fund/maintain).  The lone genius myth of designers is long standing (and allows the upper-crust to charge much higher fees for it, a “brand” if you will), yet many do rely on friends/peers they trust for feedback and support.

Personally forced teamwork is not something I enjoy, but with a good team, the mutual support and energy is an exhilarating experience I wouldn’t trade for a cubicle.

[nca]

I have been thinking about this for a while since I started working from home nearly full time.

I’m isolated and go through spells of madness when I have a deadline or difficult problem to sole and no one to lean on, but ultimately I prefer the situation I’m in.

Occasionally I’ll work in the office and often finding myself frustrated by the ‘group think’ and sometimes inefficiency of working with large teams.

I agree that ‘lone genius’ may be misleading. Without saying too much, I’ll say I’m just not sure design is best practiced in a corporate environment.

[nca]

Ha!

I hung in there for our one semester long group project in school only to redo it from scratch by myself over christmas break for my portfolio. I dont know if I could go as far as accusing my peers of stifling my genius though, lol.

[nca]

We’re probably working on the same competition too, lol.

[Serah Sibley]

much respect –  “lone thinker” works. IDEO looks interesting.  thank you for the heads up.

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