Listen: Control and Creativity

Abstract

Tomas, Milo, and Rob are in discussion. TOMAS: A lot of the issues we deal with are about control. While I feel we ultimately are in control of the projects we are working on, sometimes in the thick of a situation there can be a feeling of a loss of control. The more we can do to counter this, the better. You will never be in control of everything, but there can be an ambition toward that. I can imagine processes that we become really in control of, and I feel really confident that we know how to do them. Actually, I think we’re very, very close to it, where it’s things that we’re doing again and again, like a new-build house. These things are difficult, but learning from the previous projects, we can really learn to control them—control clients’ expectations, control contractors on-site. I’d really like to get to the position that we just feel in control on all of those things, which I think we’re close to. But there are some things we don’t, and that’s including our own time on a project. I think some of my recent frustrations have been when I feel we’re slightly out of control, and that’s where I just get frustrated, because I feel like we should be there. There’s another question, though, on top of that. So, say we achieve this position where we’re now totally in control of the project. I then want to question it, like “Is that where we want to be?” I want to get there first....