Killing Creativity
Creating Passionate Users: The Concept Carification effect by Kathy Sierra on October 21, 2005.
Kathy Sierra is one of the strongest advocates
for users of anyone I know. Her “Head First” books from O’Reilly are best sellers because she knows how to write and create books that connect to people.
Although her website Creating Passionate Users isn’t aimed at libraries, many of her posts address issues that affect libraries.
I recommend this article as an example. In it
she addresses one of her favorite themes: why
good, creative ideas never get implemented.
When she talks about “competition,” we in libraries should be thinking about whether or not users will
find libraries relevant if we are not creative.
Obviously there are a zillion reasons why wild-ass concepts can’t (and shouldn’t) find their way into final production, but how many of those reasons are truly valid? When people say, “We can’t afford to do it that way…” we should always ask, “Can’t… or Don’t Want To?” followed by, “Can we afford not to?”
If being remarkable is one of the only ways we can hope to compete in a world where everything has a ton of competition…
We have to keep fighting the Concept Carification effect, to keep at least some of our ideas alive, sharp edges intact. This is not an easy battle, since it involves separating the crap ideas from the brilliant concepts, with NO evidence. After all, most revolutionary concepts do NOT come directly from what users ask for.
When you’re really really on to something magical, you can guarantee there will be devil’s advocates, naysayers, and viscious critics every step of the way. Yes, sometimes those critics will be right, but if we aren’t brave enough to fight through it when nobody knows for certain, then everything good will be stuck in the concept stage, and we’ll be left with… all of the boring, undifferentiated, or lame products we have now.