Wait! What does Issac Asimov have to do with impact-driven category design?
The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. — Issac Asimov
We have already established that I’m a comic and sci-fi geek. And Issac Asimov is a hard-core sci-fi writer. He was born in Russia in 1920. He became a US citizen when he was 8 years old. He has a Ph.D. in biochemistry. His books about robots and space will spark the imagination of many. He coined the term robotics. He is the category king of sci-fi.
Issac also likes to write little short stories or essays as they are called. There are two that stood out for me. One titled Art and Science and the other creativity.
I’ll like to explore a little deeper into the first one — Art and Science. In this essay written in 1978, Issac argued that art and science the same. He writes about how artists are pigeonholed as being imaginative and emotional, whilst scientists are cold and logical.
He argues that artists and scientists are more alike than that. Artists can be rational and scientists can be imaginative. He writes about an artist called Leone Battista. And how Leone when trying to give his art what is called perspective used mathematics. This lead to a new branch of mathematics called projective geometry.
An artist trying to solve a problem led him to science. Right, so he has established that artists can think logically. But what of science? That doesn’t need art. Issac illustrated beautifully how a physician called Andreas Vesalius published a book on human anatomy. The book titled Of the structure of the human body forms the fundamentals of medicine as it is today. There were many books published on human anatomy, but Andreas Vesalius's book is the category leader. Why?
Vesalius used a painter called Jan van Calcar for the illustrations. This made Vesalius the category king and earned him the moniker “the father of anatomy.”
Scientists are artists and vice versa. They are both designers and innovators. They both take a leap of faith. Artists draw their imagination and scientists create what they imagined. But they are both futuristic. The impact of art and science on humanity is indisputable.
Of late, I have seen many threads on category design. Are category designers just marketers? Are they innovators? We look into the future and create a different one. But is it just art? Is it just intuition? The category design itself might be artistic but the flywheel is data-driven. It’s scientific.
But is that enough? What about curiosity and creativity. Countless people have seen the apple fall from the tree, only Issac Newton asked the question why.
Artists and scientists are also inherently curious. They see things in a different light, a different perspective. They can see the “5th dimension.”
As Asimov says, we see that art and science are the same. They both also share another trait — creativity.
This brings me to Issac Asimov’s essay on creativity. It was published in the MIT Technology Review in 2014.
In his essay Issac Asimov asks the question — How do people get new ideas?
How DO we get new ideas? Regardless of what field you are in it seems creativity or the process of getting new ideas, have a few common elements.
According to Issac to get new ideas, the individual:
- Needs to have a solid background in the topic at hand
- Needs to have the ability to make connections between subject matters
- Must be somewhat unconventional, be able to challenge the norm and authority
- Requires a degree of isolation
- Be ok with sounding foolish
Now comes the next challenge for getting new ideas. For an organization to thrive we need people to come together. The impact-driven category design process requires fro-to sessions. So what are the rules of engagement?
It’s not easy to come out with new ideas in a group setting. It could be perceived badly or ridiculed. How do we get creative individuals to come together as a group? Issac has a few insights into this as well.
- The people in the group should all be ok with sounding foolish
- All in the group should be of equal standing. No one person’s reputation must be “bigger” than others
- Must be an easy-going and casual session
- No compensation should be made for the fro-to sessions themselves. The burden of responsibility that comes with compensation kills the creative process
- Needs a therapist type to “run” the session.
There are no easy answers to being creative. Category design is a creative process. The Play Bigger book details the authors’ experience and steps that can be followed. But there is no one-size-fits-all approach.
Category design isn’t a mathematical formula. Even in math, Einstein’s theory of relativity took years to be accepted.
None of us actually know the future. Impact-driven category designers are futuristic. There is no right and wrong. How can we truly know the impact this new category is going to have on the planet? On societies? On people?
Here I am reminded of Dr. Richard J. Gatling. He invented the first rapid-fire gun — called the Gatling gun. It was used during the American Civil War. Dr. Gatling had written that he invented it to:
reduce the size of armies and so reduce the number of deaths by combat and disease, and to show how futile war is — Source — https://twile.com/timeline/inventions/EAAAACyX7DCsEAzh5aVIFQrD_E3bf877NMucDgpQk46tS5zn/revolving-machine-gun
I can draw parallels between what Issac Asimov had detailed on creativity and how I get new ideas. The more I read the better I become at making connections that lead up to the aha moment. I’ve always challenged authority. As an only child, I am a bit of a loner. I take pride in sounding foolish. But I’m also meticulous about research and understanding patterns. I’m also idealistic and always looking for a way to make the world a better place. This speaks to the heart of who I am and why I added the 4th element to category design.
We have talked about art, science, and creativity. Category designers are artistic innovators. But they are also explorers.
Why do need impact-driven category designers?
As Captain Kirk says in Star Trek:
….to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before! — Source https://www.homesrenewed.org/boldly-go-where-no-one-has-gone-before/#:~:text=Space%3A%20the%20final%20frontier.,man%20one%20has%20gone%20before!