Rather Suspect

When you’re faced with something poorly-defined and fuzzy, which direction do you most naturally go? Or, perhaps more importantly, what do you run from?

Do you feel the need to make order out of things, to fit loose ends into an over-arching framework or strategy? If so, I propose that you’re more of a convergent thinker.

Conversely, if things aren’t particularly clear, do you find yourself gravitating towards speaking to more people, gathering more information, or trying new things? In this case, I propose you’re more of a divergent thinker.

I used to have a bias but over time I’ve shifted. I don’t think the best is to do one, or even to do “a little bit of both.” I think the best is to do a lot of both — but, ideally, to swing, like a pendulum, back and forth between the two. If things feel “all over the map,” then it’s often valuable and satisfying to spend some time trying to redraw the map itself. This is convergent thinking at its finest, because you are essentially identifying the model or strategy that makes the whole mess easier to understand.

However, the converse of that — and equally important — is to put more pieces on the board. Run a few experiments, try a few more things, speak to a few more people. The outcome of this is a picture that perhaps is less ordered but more complete.

At a personal level I sometimes find myself trapped or stuck on one side of the pendulum — I redraw the map, then again, then again — but it never quite comes together. This is super frustrating but also a sign: I’m missing information. Enough map-drawing, I need to go out and scout out the landscape more thoroughly.

It’s also true however that I can get stuck on the other side: collecting more and more information. This is also a trap. Imagine a scientist running an experiment over-and-over: a few times is good, but once the data starts to repeat itself, it’s likely time to leave the lab and write up the results.

I also find this happens a lot in teams I manage — too many thinkers of one type or the other tends to feel unsatisfying (and the result is often not very exciting.)

As with so many things I feel a lot of this comes down to awareness. What is the state of things, where is my comfort zone, and am I gravitating that direction because it’s the best, or is it because that’s just where it feels most “natural” for me to go?