Agile Otter Blog

If we want to see a greater theory of productivity , we have to recognize first that software development is thinking.  Once we get there, we need to understand how we can think better. One aid is to have more information  so that we know what to do . In the 1926 book  The Art of Thought , Graham Wallas explained that having an idea (a creative solution) requires four distinct phases or steps: Preparation (gathering of theory and data) Incubation (letting the idea "cook" by doing something unrelated) Enlightenment (the emerging of an idea, or "connection") Verification (determining the validity of the idea) Wallas noted that stages 1 and 4 may take minutes, hours, days, years, or decades. We are primarily interested in those that work on the sub-week scale when programming, but the fact remains that we need to allow the brain to work by feeding it information, giving it some time to process, and then verifying the ideas as they come. Wallas refers to the ...

Note: There is good news on this front. Apparently the copyright has been settled, and we have new copies printed last year by Solis press. You may still be able to buy a cop y from Amazon! Now on with the original post.... In 1926, Graham Wallas published a book which has been cited in organizational theory texts all over the world (as well as papers on the  Philosophy of Art ). It presaged cognitive psychology and built a model of creative thought that has helped millions of people recognize and appreciate their own ability to think creatively -- and teach it to others. I don't have a copy of The Art of Thought.  I know it by reputation and reference only. It seems like every once in a while I stumble across yet another reference to the Wallas Model of Creativity , and still I don't have a copy, and have never read a copy of the original work. Why? Because I can't have one. Amazon doesn't have it. Google books doesn't have it. Barnes and Noble doe...