Looking at the title, you might ask, is there a difference? If you’re able to conceptualise and execute an idea, then methodological knowledge must come in equal measure, right? Maybe you don’t understand what I’m eluding to at all. I suppose another way I could phrase it is to ask if creative people can accomplish anything useful without understanding to any meaningful degree the commonly established rules of their craft.
To consider an example, nations are often attributed to having a common collective way of thinking; it doesn’t apply to everyone, but a stereotype as it were. The Brits are generally considered as reserved people, we don’t stand for nonsense, and consider Americans generally outlandish and intolerable in their personas (Or maybe that’s just me). The Germans are highly efficient, they belong to the industrial centre of Europe, and their technical prowess in engineering has been a staple in their economy. The Italians on the other hand are highly expressive people; known for their extravagant hand gestures, and are home to some of the most well known artists in history, including Leonardo Da Vinci and Michaelangelo.
So, when considering the opposing characteristics that make up the German and Italian mindset, can it be concluded that to be truly good at something, you must either be almost exclusively creative, or almost exclusively methodical in ability, whereas a Jack of All Trades as the expression goes, cannot be truly great at anything?
This series of thoughts came to me as I was doubting how good I have the potential to be in my line of work. My career path could go in a number of directions; the field has only existed in any prominent way for around 30 years, so I imagine it’ll change a lot during my lifetime. However, as it currently stands, the roles I’m aiming for tend to require a good set of methodical knowledge. The exams I’ve already taken in relation to my current job mostly test your ability to recite administrative processes and apply some conceptual knowledge to real-world scenarios. Memorisation is key, so I imagine this is suited well to someone with a methodical mindset.
So where do I stand between purely creative and methodical thinking? The honest answer is, I’m not quite sure, but if I were to take a guess, I’d imagine it’d be in the centre somewhere. You see, I’ve questioned my ability to excel in these positions if I can’t as an example, recite the correct terminology on demand for various elements in the PowerShell syntax, or to list the types of VMs (Virtual Machines) available to create in Azure. To write that sentence alone took a bit of searching through the memory bank, and if those things are requested on demand in a job interview, a potential employer won’t necessarily find direct answers to those questions from me. It’s not to insinuate that I’m incapable of memorising; I simply don’t value this type of information enough for it to persist in my mind. I’d rather find my way around the question by mentioning where I might find the answers to those things. I’d imagine others to have similar thoughts on that; we’re not all robots after all.
So, we can continue to do what we have always done, using the same well refined techniques to accomplish our goals, but would it be too unreasonable to say that a creative edge in a predominantly methodical role may just be what’s needed to excel? In the words of Robert Oppenheimer who lead a team which founded the atomic bomb, “theory will only take you so far” so in my mind, thinking outside the box might just give you the advantage.
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