Useful and Helpful

Among my frequently asked questions is – how do you measure your work? That’s a fair question. I spent a fair chunk of the 1980s doing investment appraisal analysis, which only proved to me the prevalence of a well known decision making technique called backfilling the data. So, how do I answer this?

First of all I tell them what I don’t do. I don’t focus on those things that can be easily measured rather than those things that need to be done. I don’t manipulate unique projects to make them look like they contribute to a set of generic metrics. In essence, I say that measurement of outputs is secondary to their impact on outcomes. So how do I keep on track?

The first way is to challenge my own motives for doing the work. The second is to ask those I’m working with if it’s useful and helpful. And the third is to ask those I work for whether it makes a difference. As Groucho Marx once said - Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?

Have a great Christmas and may we all make a difference in 2010.

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Acquired Taste

At this time of year the magazines are full of lists: the top ten best films, books of the year, best board games etc. It is a lesson in fallibility to realise how many great products and ideas of their age are now forgotten, and how some that were ignored or criticised at the time have survived and become admired. Think of writers touched by genius like John Keats, or now iconic films like ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’.

Some designs are an acquired taste. Some create a great first impression that wanes with acquaintance. Some do neither, or both. Some become detached from their original purpose or meaning – like the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies van der Rohe.

The point is that buildings cannot be judged like an X Factor competitor. To really judge a building you need to live with it for a while, and place it in the context of your own life. There are no infallible criteria for design – just lives lived for the better.

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Casting

When the endless screen credits role, they invariably include the names of the Casting Directors. Choosing the right people for the right roles is obviously a critical starting point for any creative endeavour. Of course every good actor can act, but some are quite simply better suited to some types of roles than others.

Perhaps, according to movie casting mythology, Ronald Reagan would indeed have made a convincing Rick – the Humphrey Bogart role in the film Casablanca - but it wouldn’t be the classic we know and love. Casting makes a critical difference.

Not surprisingly, this also applies to designers. Choosing the right designers for a project is a prerequisite for a successful outcome. Even if we listen to those who say that all professionally qualified architects are by definition good designers – they are not all good in the same way.

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