For the past month I’ve been immersing myself in comparing and contrasting different search engines. If you work in the search space like I do, and you have a pulse, it is hard to stop yourself from being exposed to articles about this sort of thing…but I’ve been trying. Why? I’ll detail that in another post, but basically, I’m working on a search engine concept. …So I’ve purposely avoided these articles, as I have a theory.
It’s about the creative process. Most people who have worked with me at Broadlook over the last few years understand my theory and bias, whether they agree with it or not, they know how I feel and they give me the space to follow my method as it works for me.
The basic concept is that you should avoid reviewing others work in a field before you think up your original concept for a project. I actually got the idea from a short story I read in high school by Orson Scott Card called Unaccompanied Sonata. Story in short: A young boy, a musical genius, is removed from society so his musical creations are original. At the end of the story he sneaks away from his encampment and hears the music of Mozart. Upon his return, he is cast out as his music was forever influenced by Mozart and no longer original.
Before I sit down with our team to create a new recruiting software product, I put myself through a black out period. Whatever I am working on, I avoid the concept from outside sources at all costs. This allows my creative side to be creative. The copy factor reduces. It’s like when you find yourself in a totally dark room and your eyes start seeing things. Your brain is trying to stay busy & stimulated. The same thing will happen if you deprive yourself of input stimuli on the topic you are interested in…you will start to think.
Once you have your ideas worked out, then and only then review outside content. Not reviewing external “art” after you’ve gone through your initial creative process is foolhardy.
The “me to” creations coming from most dot com’s are a sign that they start by copying first, not creating.
I was on the Recruiting Animal Show today and one of the comments was about creating original content vs. reposting information. For those people who want to start blogging original content, avoid reading blogs at all costs. Shally Steckerl talked about the “Signal to noise ratio” on the show today. It’s all about eliminating the noise. Eliminate the noise and the creativity will come.
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Donato,
Signal to noise is a great quote by Shally.
I understand you are optimistic and willing to mash up with other services. Your demo to us via Pete Bugnatto was the best new product offering I’ve seen this past 2007. I have a question for you. Why mash your product up with Google desktop search instead of Windows DTS? I’ll get the exact quote for you in a day or two but I was told to remove GDS from my computer. It makes pitching your diver and and market mapper an issue.
I think your theory is fascinating. I have found astonishing results having never been in the IT recruiting world before (only marketing and PR) and coming into the family biz. Seems like everything out of my mouth surprises people. I have attributed it to a super muted version of what you are describing, in that untainted eyes find it easier to see. Neat-o
Agree with Theory of Sensory Deprivation. Float Tanks, finding the quiet where the noise is gone and the real thoughts bubble forth.
Using this technique with my guitar playing - no more mimicing the licks of the “greats”, spent 2 years deprogramming that. Now when I play its original and it sounds like “me”. This was good validation.
Donato, I didn’t know you had a blog until I received your email. It is exceptionally well done and it’s a shame that you haven’t integrated it into your Broadlook site. IMO, it should be linked right off the home page and it would humanize a very average website and give your potential customers a much stronger reason to interact with you and Broadlook. With your written communication abilities, you would also be a natural in working in the various social neworking mediums (Twitter, Facebook) and obtain a nice ROI from your participation.
Sometimes, even great products need differentiators and I think that pushing your blog even harder just might be a ticket to greater revenue for your company.
I know what you’re talking about Donato. When I was in school, any time I tried to write a paper, I always seemed to be heavily influenced by the style of whomever I happened to be reading at the time. I think that still happens to me with movies and television shows–expressions and phrases from them creep into my speech.
By the way, I think your blog is awesome. Mind if I link to it on mine?