Do people accomplish more?
“A colleague of the great scientist James Watson remarked that Watson
was always “lounging around, arguing about problems instead of doing experiments.” He concluded that “There is more than one way of doing good science.” It was Watson’s form of idleness, the scientist went on to say, that allowed him to solve “the greatest of all biological problems: the discovery of the structure of DNA.” It is a point worth remembering in a society overly concerned with efficiency.
Adapted from John C. Polanyi, “Understanding Discovery”
Do people accomplish more when they are allowed to do
things in their own way?”
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The freedom to do things your own way and efficiency are certainly not
mutually exclusive. The opportunity to explore and experiment during
the creative process is critical to the success of any endeavor.
However it is important to note that utilizing existing structures and
frameworks can be equally beneficial, and is a crucial part of the
process. Personal process and existing frameworks should be used in
conjunction to maximize success.
In my eight years as a professional visual-effects artist, I have
dealt with countless projects demanding original, creative ideas as
well as adherence to the rigid scheduling requirements of a production
environment. Each project requires its own organic application of a
creative direction and certain parts of that creative process are
inherently subjective, requiring people to do things their own way.
How can one possibly pre-define the process of something so organic as
choosing the color of an ominous sky, the sound of a lonely rain drop,
or the motion of a child’s bouncing ball? These things demand the
artist take a subjective look using their own creative steps to
determine the outcome.
At the same time, it’s foolish to re-invent the wheel. There are many
things in the visual-effects pipeline that can be abstracted and
reused on different projects. Through trial and error, techniques can
be refined and eventually evolve into higher-level structures that can
be utilized to maximize efficiency. Gauging the length of a job,
estimating the number of hours necessary to accomplish a task, and
accurately calculating a schedule to fit a certain budget are all
things that demand some sort of existing framework to aid in their
completion.
Any task that requires critical thinking to achieve an outcome can
benefit from combining a persons own process with the guidelines of
those that have come before. The application of people “doing things
their own way” is exactly what gives variance to results and plants
the seed for progress and innovation.
