Creativity, Innovation and Change MOOC

1. Creativity, Innovation and Change MOOC Week 1 – Paper Tower Exercise “Exorcising the Procrastinator” Martin Silcock

2. The Task • Find an A-4 size (8"x11") sheet of paper • Try and fail multiple times to build the tallest free-standing structure your creative mind can come up with. • Share on our Social Media groups and/or discussion forums your best design

3. Procrastinated thinking does not work I found it difficult to actually start playing with ideas without a plan. So I did not do any early trials I circled around the task, thinking about it at odd moments. I felt a resistance to just start. I think this was because I wanted to visualise the final outcome before starting. I certainly tried to challenge the constraints in my mind in lots of what if and why type questions. It was all very logical • What would be the highest tower possible with actual material of A4 sheet? • Did it have to be a physical tower, why not a conceptual one? • Would a plan for a tower be allowed? By this stage I was looking at others people’s attempts and feeling envious about their modelling skill. I also felt slightly disheartened. I saw others actually doing some of the approaches I had thought of that I thought were innovative e.g. someone had photocopied a picture of the highest tower in the world in Dubai. I had been going for cleverness! I found myself commenting on other people’s tower? But not having a go myself – a kind of procrastination – when its in your head its ultimately flexible – no commitment I did lots of informal thinking (thought experiments?) about the constraints etc. such as: • What makes a tower stand up and fall? • What are the forces acting on a tower? Gravity and flatness of the surface- wide at the bottom This came up with ideas like – “it says nothing g about processing the paper in some way.” • How about creating a papier-mâché base and then sticking sticks strengthened by soaking and compressing them into paper stick • This led onto idea that to go high you needed to go thin…almost one rigid stick of paper. Could see it in my head, though little voice said – “ah but how do you know it will work in practic? Answer (another little voice) “no problem…just don’t trial it ! “ • Then I saw the ideas of others on the forum CIC Forums and my heart dropped – they were so good But this led to internal talk about : “I have not got time to do that, its will be fiddly and could be a waste of time.” (I did not experiment…I just did not do it, I was happy to leave it there as a conceptual idea….and almost self satisfied that I would never know. I also posted on the forums about one example about how I thought maybe competition was great creative stimulus- people wanting to out do each other…but I was not even in the race…I was being beaten before I had even got to the race track….in my head! This also led me to think…there was no right answer….you will never know you have the “right” solution – it’s the process that is important so just have a go (maybe the breakthrough thought) So now just needed to do something as time was now short- one day to go

4. Failing fast is like an unfolding story I then started work on the tower. I though t, if I could get to half a meter that would be fine- no time to devote First , folded the paper in half Then I folded the sides of the paper into the centre line Then I stood it on the table – and looked at it…..aha a triangle, could I make triangle tube components and stack them That seemed good idea as triangles are strong shapes! Then I cut A4 into 4 strips and repeated the folding at a smaller scale then slotted two tubes together Yes they stood. Now for 3rd section …problems met : it would not fit in and remain stable. Tried to create notches at top of the tube to slot together – partly ok, but not strong enough. Need to make the tube stronger. How could I interleave the sides…how about a slot and wrap a lug through. Quick snip and slipped together paper sections – wow that is far stronger. Repeated at other end- even better. Made two of these and yes that worked + the lugs also acted as bases for each section. Happy had solved it….so just made the top two sections much tighter an d slotted together and held together by friction Tried to erect tower – aw no, instability at bottom. Toppling over – too top heavy, need a wider base Fixed it by opening up the bottom lug on first section for wider footprint on table Success- deep breathe- and sigh

5. When I saw the triangle having folded into 4 strips tube the penny dropped and I had a strategy to try The final tower After a successful tower I created larger sized component out of A4 to show the lock construction This was needed as the components tended to open up The locking also created a resting point for the next section The top 2 sections I made thinner and just slotted in to get to 65cm

6. Reflections • Just get started – Maybe create an artificial time deadline to get started earlier • Set a goal you will be happy with this time around – know what success looks like (even if its is less than perfect) • Find something to play with easily easy to go around the experiment cycle quicker – faster feedback • Keep it simple at first – get a feel for the materials • Pick one route and flow it through – don’t think of alternatives once you have started – you’ll loose commitment and flow • Look for components or modules that can be linked together – Lego thinking • Solve problems as they come up – improvise • Look at others for principles they have found • Look for the underlying principles and when found follow their logic • Reflecting on the process of failing fast is like a story of challenge and solutions • Competition can help – ideas of others…but beware getting demoralised • Need for accuracy – take time to create your experiments (I was not using ruler, just folding and tearing) • There is no right answer – it’s what you are happy with v your original goal • You can’t fail fast in your head- you need to do it for real