Emergent-design flow thinking in use
I have documented emergent-design flow with a particular project, and compared my emergent-design flow to a more traditional design process as a Perspective filter. To see this comparison and the first draft of my emergent-design flowchart see 3.1 Supporting evidence left column. This process of exploring my emergent-design flow could be considered lateral thinking (1). It is also refered to as "threading the eye of the needle in Theory U" (2).
According to my KOLB's Kite graph my skillflex-constitution is Accommodating. This means my strength of Learning-style is Concrete Experimentation (Feeling/sensing) and Active Experimentation (Doing/Testing) see PDF in- 3.1 Supporting evidence left column.
This made sense that I should explore emergent-design flow, as it is a function of my default setting. I used this method in four micro-projects; Kailash food forest, Alternate-leaf stairs, Hugelkulture upper, Thuli-Compost bin.
Within this emergent-design flow I could see my own design principles (which I mapped for the TALC series - image left). This makes my emergent-design process also a design according to principles model (3). The Intuitive Hub component in the emergent-design flowchart formed the tangent of my Mid-year presentation, Exploring Emergence and Intuition, see PDF in 3.1 Supporting evidence left column.
Gaia U and pathway reflection
This is a journal excerpt on my system of learning and skillflexing prior to Gaia U. It shows me questioning how I can adjust my learning pathway.
This deeply layered project is a reflection of how I have been skillflexing on my own the past decade, outside of institutions. Trying to fit this dynamic multi-project experience into a template was a challenge. I exceeded the 3400 max word count of the core report by 2000 words. It got me questioning if this template is really suited for a skillflex pathway such as my own. I have been calling Gaia U an "Un-institution", yet in this context of OPs it seems a compromise has been reached to bridge the gap with the accepted academic institution.
I understand the benefit of limiting words and I acknowledge the good qualities of connectivity of one OP to the next, and structure flexibility. I keep coming to the idea that I need to cut-out components of my learning, yet I see it all as interconnected and essential. Interconnectedness is an exponentially potent and complex thing. It is this interconnectedness which has been central in the structure of my learning pathway before entering Gaia U. I am now contemplating how my path will be changed by this format and/or how I can change my format/method of presentation.
I feel including anchor tags with HTML code has made this report much easier to navigate and has shown a new dimension to OPs that I would like to cultivate further and help others to do the same.
Micro-project un/learnings
My key unlearning in Kailash micro-projects is that slow and small is a great design principle.
Articulating my emergent-design flow has led me to observe my process as I work 2.1 Pathway reflection, right column. Having identified the need for consulting scale/best-practices is leading to my process evolving wholisticly, increasing my works viability.
My research on Intuition has led to many un/learnings I cover in my Mid-year presentation - Exploring Emergence and Intuition, see Mid-year PDF in 3.1 Supporting evidence.
Digiphon
The Page Layout is 2 columns of even width, I created the text on Mac TextEdit saved as a plain text uploaded it to Mahara for resilient documentation. I am using html anchor tags for internal links, see HTML for Mahara 3.1 Supporting evidence right column.
Citations
1. ^ "Lateral thinking", Wikipedia.com, Aug 2103
2. ^ Scharmer, Claus Otto, "The Blind Spot of Leadership", Pg. 6 - last paragraph, April 2003.
3. ^ Lester, Dave, "Design by Principle", Blog, Feb 2013
Creative Commons license
2.2 Commentary - Thinking in use by Will Bode is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
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My thinking during this cycle ...
Patrix busting - by exploring my emergent-design flow I was "threading the eye of the needle" - U theory with lateral thinking .
Strategic intuition - Insights on emergent designs and the transformation of my OP theme. Many small insights; dynamics of the food forest, drainage of alternate leaf stairs, thule-compost bin design. multi-purpose of hugelkulture mound upper.
Lateral Thinking - By approaching my lack of design I had to get "outside the box" to see what was going on in my design-as-I-go method.
Alpha waves - This is a state of perception which happens with relaxed concentration, with your eyes closed and no movement, meditation, see 3.1 Supporting evidence Mid-year presentation left column.
Right-brain thinking - This is an objective-state which is very useful for Analysis. It happens when you don't impose your impressions from the past or your aspirations for the future onto the present, see Mid-year presentation for more details
Active-follower - in the workshops I took; asking questions, finding answers and sharing with the group.
Reflection - This is likely one of the systems of thought I use the most and is responsible for much of the complexity of this report
I used all six thinking hats at various times throughout this cycle.
- Information (White) - considering purely what information is available, what are the facts? - This was a large part of my thought modality while taking courses such as; timber framing, building with hemp, and the various workshops at the NE Permaculture convergence. This is also the modality I am in when doing any analysis of my own micro-projects.
- Emotions (Red) - intuitive or instinctive gut reactions or statements of emotional feeling (but not any justification) - I see the emotional as my yearning for deeper experiences without knowing exactly why or where they will lead.
- Discernment (Black) - logic applied to identifying reasons to be cautious and conservative - My small and slow approach on the various Kailash micro-projects has showed me that discernment is always helpful with moderation. If I am really questioning if I should do something, the answer is, "wait".
- Optimistic response (Yellow) - logic applied to identifying benefits, seeking harmony - Staying on the positive side and viewing things from multiple directions helps me to see and pursue benefits. Using the permaculture principles (the edge effect, layering, multi-purpose, the solution is within the problem, seeing waste streams as yields, cycles) as a lens gives me the tools to actualize these visions.
- Creativity (Green) - statements of provocation and investigation, seeing where a thought goes - Journaling and poetry have given me an outlet to explore my feelings and experiences of this project in ways the experiences themselves or creating a report can't.
- Meta-thinking - systematically using the different modalities of thought tailored for the situation/context. When I would do small projects during the time I was approaching my emergent-design flow, I could see the reflection coming in analyzing the thinking processes as they were happening. This is one of the more interesting layers of thought this project has given me a small glimpse into, through exploring my emergent-design flow.