My “creative” process

This was my second post at the forum and it’s kind of introspective way to see how I understand my creativity.

I’m living most of the time as a Developer immerse spending most of my working hours talking about features, technologies, and bugs (especially bugs). And contradictory, over the years, I’ve been finding more and more space to be creative, in a more specialized perspective.

I’ve been building my design process around some principles and practices. The choice of a tool usually comes at the end, and naturally.

A principle that I like to mention is named KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid, and or Keep It Stupid Simple). It is widespread in software development. I try to apply it to my daily duties because it forces me to search all time the simplest solution possible. Any reduction of scope is welcome. So I usually start looking for them. With a clear view of my limitations, I can look at my available tools and try to build a solution, a project, or solve a bug.

I think my design process works like a circle of interactions seeking feedback. And usually, I’m not alone. In a group with people from different backgrounds aimed at the same goals, I don’t any problem finding options or alternatives when my own are fading.

Usually, I don’t get blocked on my daily routine. But it happens, then I get lost trying to find a solution for a problem that I barely know how to describe. In those situations, I start going out for a walk or a coffee. Then the pen and paper. If nothing works, I move for another task and forget it for some time. Some beers and a night of sleep always help too.

I can tell about mind-maps, user story maps, brainstorms, and some other tools that I use routinely to document and organize my head. However, they are useless without a set of values and interactions. Or the patience to take a break and try again later.