So the first few weeks of this Studio have involved a lot of doubt, a lot of finding our feet, exploring the two cross disciplines which will be working on the Lentara project. And trying to work out exactly what it is we’re creating or attempting here in this collaboration.

“The driving force for collaboration is motivation” – Essi Salonen, Designing Collaboration: British Design Council 2012

This was an interesting starting point for the Media 5 Studio’s course guide, as I recently attended a talk by Dr Jason Fox on Motivation Design. The rest of the quote in the Studio guide talks about a goal or end result, while Dr Fox made a point that motivation being tied to visibility of progress he not only stops short of suggesting this is achieved with a clear goal, he actually actively warns against setting too specific a goal too soon, and this, fortunately, appears to be the approach that this Studio is lending itself to. An approach where from the beginning the end result is not set in concrete, and is not even really known. Dr. Fox suggests some people may be fearful of such uncertainty and doubt in a world where we’re under constant pressure to be efficient, however for innovation to flourish we need to be open to curiosity which we are robbed of if we start with too specific a goal. Human Centered Design also mirrors this sentiment in it’s approach that Viability and Feasibility of any solution is dependent on starting with an understanding of the problem, not an idea for the solution.

Imagination, Curiosity, Doubt and Wonder:
We need Doubt to keep Imagination, Curiosity, and Wonder alive, the anathema to doubt is the conclusion, once something is concluded there is no more thought.

Dr. Fox talks about this with the model he calls Constructive Discontent, it is essentially about recognizing there is a discrepancy between your current state and your desired future state, if there is no discrepancy (at least for an extended period of time) this contentedness can lead to comfort, leading to complacency, leading to irrelevance. In order to progress and grow we have to be discomforted, we need to be in a space of constructive discontent – “we want to be content with dissatisfaction” – doubt is a good indicator that you’re stepping outside your comfort zone, and doubt grows with knowledge, and vice-versa.

According to Fox Doubt has 3 benefits:
1) Doubt makes ideas stronger!
If we are uncomfortable with doubt we tend to rush to a quick fix solution, if we sit with doubt and stay with a challenge and go deeper we come up with better solutions.

2) Doubt makes leaders better:
If a leader is aware they have imperfections, they experience the ‘imposter syndrome’ comparing their internal dialogue to their peers external dialogue, leaders who doubt themselves will strive to keep learning and growing to keep up appearances of confidence and knowledge.

3) Doubt makes life more wonderful:
In life there are two types of games we can play. One is the game of making life wonderful. The other is the game of “who’s right” (a game in which everyone loses), most of us choose, often unconsciously, the latter. Collapsing the world into right and wrong removes doubt from the equation in favour of conclusion. If we err on the side of making life wonderful we use doubt to keep the conversation and exploration alive.

I think these 3 points will be crucial to keep in mind throughout this process/studio.

Dr. Fox’s presentation at Link Festival also made 5 key points about maintaining momentum in collaboration, some of which hark back to the rest of the opening quote in the Course Guide:

1. Collaboration is an Infinite Game – Games consisting of Goals, Rules, Feedback and motivation mirroring these in order with Purpose, Mastery, Autonomy.
2. Don’t Rely on Motivation (make it easy to collaborate) – Understanding behaviour to be: Motivation + Ability + A Trigger (BJ Fogg Behaviour Model) Fox references this model to indicate that when Motivation is High, but Ability (referring to the complexity of the task) is ‘Complex & Difficult’, Triggers are more likely to Fail, just as when Motivation is Low and Ability is Simple & Frictionless. Where there was the most chance of success was with high Motivation and some complexity. i.e. Motivation alone is not enough.
3. Get Out of Your Own Way – Recognising self sabotaging behaviours and overcoming them, particularly ones you have convinced yourself are efficient or productive (Perfectionism, Procrastination)
4. Create Rituals for Momentum – Visibility of Progress
5. Share the Journey – Don’t wait until you have it all figured out, seek diverse collaborative input throughout the whole process.

With that all in mind, I hope this Studio remains full of doubt and constructive discontent.