“Blogging is intellectual prototyping.”
–Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto
How’s that for a quote? From a very influential thinker in a very good B-school yet. This appeared in Business Week’s Innovation section, on Bruce Nussbaum’s design blog on October 10th.
Bruce’s comment under the headline: “You put the ideas out there and start a conversation that leads to something… or not.”
Although only two comments were posted, one of them was quite interesting, from a reader named Christopher Fahey, as well: “And Twittering is intellectual doodling.”
Now I thought all of this was well worth discussing. In fact, I’d like to get Daily Fix readers’ interpretations of this quote. What did Roger Martin mean by this quote? Or better yet, what do you take it to mean?
As a design firm president, it means something distinct to me. I think if we can use this medium to openly and honestly discuss our opinions, we can see patterns emerge. . .we can innovate. . .and we can use the conversations we generate to further crystallize our ideas or get much-needed outside perspectives. I mean, sounding out our ideas with other people can lead to great things. Blogging allows us to bounce our ideas off many more people than we ever could in an office meeting. That’s one of the great things about it.
What do you think of any or all of the three statements made in the BW Design Blog? I’d like to get your input.
Ted,
I see a couple of implications in that quote. To me the discussion that comes after the post is the second benefit of blogging. The first benefit is that I have to put some thought into the point of view that I post. This gives me a chance to gather and focus my thoughts. Even when there is no online discussion of my post I benefit from having organized my thinking and this has direct application to my discussions in the “real” world.
DJ,
Precisely why this quote is so provocative. It means different things to different people and provokes discussion. And that is, as you put it, “the second benefit of blogging”. We learn so much from each other when we share our ideas. After you’ve ruminated on this for a bit, please check back in with your interpretation of the quote, DJ. I’ll be interested in reading your thoughts. Thanks.
Ted,
I wish I could come up with a brilliant interpretation. Unfortunately, the good professor’s quote is one more example of using words to confound and confuse rather than to just say what you mean. Christopher Fahey’s quote, on the other hand, leaves no doubt as to its meaning: “And Twittering is intellectual doodling.”
Lewis,
I know you prefer plain speak and concrete ideas, and for the most part, I agree with you. Once in a while, though, it’s good to see something that we really have to stop and think about, interpret and consider or dismiss, as the case may be. Let’s face it: not everything in our lives is black and white. So some ideas aren’t either.
Thanks for weighing in, Lewis.
I tend to find blogging more as a way to create an unofficial community around yourself – folks might not agree with you, they might agree with you completely, but they’re all involved in your blog because they’re interested in the same things that you’re interested in. Thus, mini-communities get created online because everyone wants to talk about the same thing.
I tend to find blogging more as a way to create an unofficial community around yourself – folks might not agree with you, they might agree with you completely, but they’re all involved in your blog because they’re interested in the same things that you’re interested in. Thus, mini-communities get created online because everyone wants to talk about the same thing.
ack! My apologies – wasn’t my intention to post twice.
Hi Dani,
There is no doubt about it: like-minded people create communities around blogs the represent shared interests. Do you find, though, that it gives you and your blogging friends an opportunity to sound out some of your ideas? To test the waters with new ideas that might, or might not, have merit?
To me his quote is very precise. A prototype is often a product upon which significant changes and improvements are made (e.g., a prototype of a car).
He is applying this concept to ideas. It seems very straight forward.
Intellectual prototyping is theory before practice.
I’m not sure how this, in itself, distinguishes blogging from any other type of theorizing, including peer-reviewed articles. I get the impression the author of the quote thinks more of the latter than the former, but there is no need. Just as in peer-reviewed articles, there are varying degrees of quality for blogs.
Neil & Cam,
I think you are both, in essence, saying the same thing. . .prototyping lets us test theories or new ideas and sound them out (in the case of blogs) with our peers. In that regard, to your point, Cam, blogging becomes just another form of theorizing. Taken another way, there is the potential for the interaction of many more people, given the size of some blogging communities, so more brainstorming might occur. Lastly, great point, Cam: there are vast differences between blogs and their quality.
Thanks for making some great points and adding to the discussion, guys.
Neil,
Blogging often is neither intellectual (logical, appeals to the intellect, or appeal to the intellectual) nor about ideas. Sometimes it is anti-intellectual and very often ideas are not at the center of the post at all.
That is why I hate this abuse of our language. Yes, it gets us to think. But what are we thinking about? We are thinking about his use of language and trying to define his words.
Great for an academic environment but not very useful to anyone’s mind or life. Sorry. Say what you mean and mean what you say. Don’t play games with words.
Before I shut down the office, just want to say to Ted and all the commentors here: You are great! This is a conversation because Ted bothered to offer something. To me, that is the value of this post: Not the professor’s convoluted speech but the give and take that each of you have offered. You are all winners in my book.
Hasta luego, baby!
Ted, I won’t go “Clintonian” on you, but I am challenged with Mr. Martin’s use of the word “is”. The statement, “Blogging is X, or Blogging is Y” leaves little room for expansion of thought, difference of opinion or the issue of whether Mr. Martin is correct or not. It’s a pretty dogmatic, blanket statement leaving little room for variance.
As others have pointed out, blogging can be a way to get your ideas out there first, gain feedback and use that data to refine your future thinking.
But blogging “is” and can be so much more than “intellectual prototyping”, as some of your other commenters have stated.
Believe me, I appreciate Mr. Martin’s “take” and willingness to hold a position and defend it. Perhaps I am making a mountain from a molehill…
Lewis,
Well, you said what you meant to and meant what you said. Nor did you play games with words. That’s what we all like and appreciate about you, Lewis. Crazy academics, anyway. Like we need more brain teasers than we already have in our everyday lives! Go figure! Just kidding, but I got your point once again, Lewis.
P.S. Thanks for the kind words. I do try to contribute posts that I hope people will feel free to respond to.
Paul,
I get your drift. Let me throw this out to you: being a professor, maybe Martin is deliberately using the word “is” for the express reason of appearing dogmatic, with the expectation of being challenged by his students.
I like your line: “But blogging “is” and can be so much more than “intellectual prototyping”, as some of your other commenters have stated.”
Agreed. When this medium is well used, it can be pretty powerful. It’s exciting to read great ideas and to be able to exchange information and knowledge, when those come from solid sources, that is. Thanks for some great observations, Paul. I appreciate it.
Thanks for the name-drop. Roger Martin’s quote is really just saying that the blogging medium allows designers and product developers to float their ideas publicly. Sure blogging can be much more than that, but for many of us in the design industry, or for that matter in any professional context, “intellectual prototyping” is precisely what blogging effectively is much of the time. My own blog graphpaper.com consists largely of posts of this sort — floating half-baked ideas to my readers, looking for feedback or, at least, to put the idea out in the world with my name on it (“intellectual mindshare squatting”?).
In fact, Bruce’s post, and yours, are exactly this: You are testing an idea publicly. Very postmodern of you!
Hi Christopher,
My pleasure. I think we all agree that blogs can have real value if utilized well. When it comes to bouncing ideas around, they help us to shape, rethink or crystallize our thoughts.
I also thought your comment on twittering had real merit, as did fellow contributor Lewis Green. Keep on doing what you’re doing: put the ideas out there and invite people in to discuss them. Who knows what great ideas could emerge from doing that? Thanks for writing in, Christopher.
Christopher is cool! Someone I can understand. So are you Ted.
Here’s back at you, Lewis. I guess we’re just a cool bunch of guys. Feel the love here at the Daily Fix. This is a nice blogging community and I love being part of it.
I took the quote to mean a blog is a place where you can put out new ideas and new ways of thinking about old ideas, see how they shape up and what the response to them is, and then use that feedback to mold them into really useful ideas with even more widespread application and a built-in audience to buy into them.
Linda,
Interesting take on the quote and I thank you for sharing it with us. I agree with the way you explained the first part of your understanding of the quote.
I’m a bit curious of the last part: “. . .and a built-in audience to buy into them.” Just wondering how you would go about selling an audience with a product or service that blogging helped you to refine. Would you count on word of mouth helping to spread the news? I’d love to have you share more of your thoughts on the latter part with us, Linda. It’s really good stuff. Thank you.
This quote seems pretty plain to me. I’m not sure why Lewis doesn’t get it — maybe he doesn’t parse language so well.
The only qualifier that I would add to Martin’s quote is to say “Good blogging is intellectual prototyping”. Clearly, not all blogs are good, nor intellectual, nor stimulating, nor conversational, nor anything but some teenage rant about their favorite records or how hard they partied last weekend.
Good quotes should be short and pithy, and they should make you think. They should make you wonder if that is true, and in what context. Martin’s statement obviously does that, although without appending the word “good”, he appears to suggest that any blog which isn’t intellectual prototyping isn’t a blog.
So what.
I definitely use my blog to explore what I think about things, and often I don’t know for sure until I see it written down. I definitely learn from the responses and conversations that develop whether I’ve been clear, whether the ideas have merit, and where I can improve. To me, that suggests strongly “intellectual prototyping”, so I’d have to say that for me, Martin is absolutely right.
Paul,
Thanks for adding some good thoughts to this conversation. When it comes to a short quote like this, it’s bound to provoke thought and divergent views. After all, we all interpret things in a different manner. You’re right: not all blogs are places for intellectual prototyping. The ones that are, become magnets for like-minded people and a way to share ideas, or sound out new ideas, in specific spheres of interest, though. That’s why we all tend to check out our favorites over and over again. We might check out new sites out of curiosity, but the ones that keep us coming back, are hopefully ones we learn from. One that we feel free to express our different points of view on. Thanks for adding your viewpoint here, Paul. I appreciate it.
I guess it all has to do with context. Blogging has become too large a thing. My blog is about lingerie and used as a vehicle to drive traffic and sales. I think that it doesn’t evoke any new ideas, but people who relate to the subject matter find it interesting.
Kristina,
As others have pointed out in their responses to this post, there are all kinds of blogs out there. Some are conducive to presenting ideas and building on them, and some are not. In the latter case, people who share an interest in specific topics, can converse with each other and form various kinds of relationships. And I’ll say this: you never know what kinds of ideas can come out some of these conversations, either. It’s an interesting process. Thanks for sharing your own insights with us, Kristina. I appreciate it.