Looking back on our course unit about Managing Design in the Global Society and Economy I still got this one simple exercise in my mind which I learned a lot from. It is called the Marshmallow Challenge. Have a look at this brilliant TED talk.
I learned that for the process of creation an iterative approach seems to be more appropriate and successful than a planning approach of looking for the one single perfect idea followed by execution on this plan at later stage. This TED talk about the Marshmallow Challenge suggests that this conclusion is backed and proofed by statistical data stating that on average playful children are more successful than analytical business students and executives, due to their different strategies of dealing with the Marshmallow Challenge.
The Marshmallow Challenge with Master of Design Students (Photo by Rob Maslin)
Personally, I concluded that the management of creative projects such as striving for innovations or start-up ideas should resemble an iterative process that is open for organic growth rather than planned outcomes.
From a management perspectives this means loosing control and to become a facilitator who coaches and leads a team to good results instead of proclaiming incentives and operational goals.This is quite contrary to project management in a traditional way. I am also quite sceptical where and how this could fit into a business context of stricter hierarchies and deadlines.
I see the danger of staying in a open worldview stage for too long. Not only should a design manager be able to facilitate this ideation and iterative process, she/he should also be the one who pulls the trigger and switches from ideation to execution in order to achieve, build, measure and learn.
The Marshmallow Challenge with Master of Design Students (Photo by Rob Maslin)
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