The Open Architecture Challenge is an open, international design competition hosted once every two years on the Open Architecture Network. It reaches beyond the traditional bounds of architecture by challenging architects and designers to partner with the broader public to address architectural inequities affecting the health, prosperity and well-being of under-served communities.

This years challenge was designing a classroom that met the unique needs of the future. While the submission deadline has already passed, we are still quite excited about seeing the results that come from increased collaboration. The most exciting part of challenges like these are that students and teachers across the globe can let the world know what they need to meet the unique needs of the 21st century classroom. By working together we can certainly create a better future for us all.

I’m not huge fan of upfront design. I prefer to take an idea and start building and design through iteration of an actual product. Pencil can be great for that. Several of the features I’ve written have started out as quick sketches on paper with mini-addendum sketches as I go. And nothing beats going to a different room with your pencil and paper to solve difficult conceptual problems. Because I kept losing these awesome sketches, a few weeks ago I bound some Idea Works notebooks. They’re recycled from old stationary that we couldn’t use because of an outdated phone number. Good for the environment and good for the brain.

As a John Lennon fan and a sucker for interesting animation, I loved this short animated film “I Met the Walrus“. It’s an Academy Award Nominee for Best Animated Short Film and combines the artistic talents of director Josh Raskin with pen work from James Braithwaite and digital illustration by Alex Kurina.

A perfect example of how a great director can piece together different types of media to create an engaging experience. Kudos. I hope they win the Academy Award.

Turns out that there is. We started using a service called Twitter (www.twitter.com) last week. This allows us to post what are called micro-blogs. Micro-blogs restrict the writer to 140 characters. That is the full length that is afforded to give an insightful update, or tell a part of a story.

The great thing about them is that they are easy for everyday, busy Joe (or Jane of course). With under 15 seconds you can evaluate the information, and then proceed to the external link if it seems of interest to you.

We currently have two Twitter accounts, one for Ideaworks and one for Bar Essay Prep. You can view them by going to www.twitter.com/ideaworks or www.twitter.com/bar-essays. Feel free to follow us on Twitter and interact, we would love to have you join the conversation!

In short, for easily digestible updates on Ideaworks, go to www.twitter.com/theideaworks. (Only 90 characters!)

We are a small company. We love being a small company. Being a small company gives us advantages that larger companies don’t have. So we decided to take our voice and presentation back to the people from which we came. By the people, for the people!

Keep your eyes peeled for some of the changes we will be making, they are exciting. I’ll give you a clue. One of the companies that has inspired some of my thinking about this, and I company that I feel has branded themselves well, is Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwiches. In particular, their slogan that I think is excellent is “Damn good, Damn fast.”

In short, be ready for changes.

Also, the background music is annoying.

Still, I admit that I don’t too often try and look this far into the future. I can think of a few small ways to improve Firefox, or some useful ways to integrate certain applications, but I’ve never considered radical new ways to discover, understand and share information.

Aurora (Part 1) from Adaptive Path on Vimeo.

In school or work or sports, decisions are often made in a group setting and we often assume that groups are the best way to produce valuable, creative ideas.

The truth is: groups often hinder creativity.

This seems a bit counter-intuitive. Shouldn’t it be helpful to bounce our ideas off of other people? Doesn’t it encourage the creative process to involve a variety of perspectives? Yes. Groups have the potential to encourage the creative process. Unfortunately, unmanaged groups usual default into a routine that does more harm than good.

For example, let’s say that Sam is in a group trying to decide what color to make their new website. He suggests doing an all-white background. Mark is also in the group and vocalizes his initial reaction: “No, not white. It’s too boring and plain.” Susan also chimes in with, “I like white sometimes, but everyone seems to be using white…”

Mark and Susan have valid concerns, but their responses instantly place limits on the discussion. This may lead to a quick decision, but not the most creative one. Other elements of group dynamics can place further limits on innovation: competition, groupthink, personal biases, hogging the spotlight, aversion to “time wasting”, diffusion of responsibility and more. Most of these things happen naturally when you get a bunch of people together to decide something. And all of them limit the potential innovation of your team.

What to do? With a little intentional effort you can optimize your group or team’s creativity. Here are some things we’ve learned to work on:

• Start with the positives. When a new idea is mentioned, the first responses should all focus on enhancing that idea. Save the concerns for later.
• Enforce a time limit. Groups are about the exchange of ideas, not a lengthly monologue. Allow people to express themselves, but make sure everyone has a chance to chime in. Also, meetings become less effective when they get too long. Try to have several shorter meetings rather than one epic meeting.
• Play devils advocate. People who work together for a long time start thinking alike. Introduce some fresh perspective by thinking like someone else.
• Give group members responsibility. Make sure everyone is invested in the group’s goals by giving them something to do. And don’t just assign busy-work. Make it crucial to the groups functioning like leading discussion, taking notes, or being the time keeper.
• Let people do group work on their own time. You don’t have to resolve every little thing in a meeting. Suggest ideas that people can mull over individually in their spare time. Set up a group forum or project manager where team members can share their input whenever inspiration strikes.
• Think opposites. If you’re fresh out of good ideas, try brainstorming the worst ideas you can think of. Make them really bad. Then, do the opposite. Or sometimes just the process of thinking like this can spark some new ideas.

There’s a lot more you can do, but the important thing is to put some thought into the dynamics of your team meetings. Identify the creative limits you’re placing on one another and get rid of them!