Day 45: Monday 13 March
In doing research into Jeremy Till’s Architecture After Architecture I was reminded of his (ie the internet’s) rediscovery of the word respair: the opposite of despair—renewed hope, recovery from a period of anguish or hopelessness Respair is light at the end of the tunnel.
It’s an apt word to start a new week with.
Cheat codes
Been dwelling on the idea of cheat codes in our work.
They sound a little wicked, an unfair advantage and are ultimately a short cut to getting the work done.
Cheat codes aren’t necessarily unethical and they’re more likely to be strategic or tactical.
So in part I’ve been considering what the cheat codes are for my work, but also for the architecture profession.
There are many universal cheat codes for businesses of any type:
- Finding your smallest viable market.
- Being clear on who you’re for.
- Identifying your customer’s pain points and speaking to solutions.
- Understanding where your target market hangs out and thoughtfully targeting them there rather than going broad and ill defined.
- Developing systems and automating them.
- Employing experts for help and support.
- Skill stacking
- etc
But the thing that’s intriguing me the most is the idea of the cheat code being a literal short cut to the future. Identifying a future need and being there with it when it’s required. Just to continue that analogy, architecture is at a cross-roads, it can continue along the path it’s been heading for the last 50 years and towards existential crisis or it can take a different route. A route that recognises a different set of values and value offers.
I’m not there yet, it’s a poorly formed idea. More mirage than reality.
More to come
