We see our protagonist sitting in a cube which floats among a vast floatilla of other, similar-looking cubes. The cube farm they call it.
DARREN: (muttering to self) Hmmm, cube-farm...that would imply that we are animals, wouldn't it?
Our protagonist has bachelors and masters degrees in physics and holds the position of Principal Software Engineer for The Big Company, twice removed from !XonTech, the company he had chosen to work for. It is a typical example of the picture many of us have seen showing a little fish about to be swallowd by the somewhat larger fish, which in turn is about to be swallowed by a still larger fish, etc./
!XonTech, a small company of less than 500 employess scattered across the country among 16 offices, was an engineering firm which used software scribbled in-house to support its analysis. Our protagonist was hired to develop the company's first significant software product for external use, a simulation test-bed used to support a major government program. Three years ago, a larger company initiated a purchase of !XonTech. While this purchase was in process, The Big Company purchased the larger company. And so the former small company unexpectedly became a mote among 120,000 employees.
DARREN: (still muttering to self) And the former owners assuerd us that they had carefully sought a buyer who would share our company philosophy...
And we should add, to round out this picture, that the very reason our protagonist had chosen to work for !XonTech was because it was a small company where he felt his work would be noticed, valued, and provide the satisfaction of having made a difference.
But wait! There are changes in the air. Our protagonist has learned that The Big Company will be building a new "campus", which aims to consolidate all the smaller offices into one building. It is anticipated that the cube inmates will be upgraded to larger cubes...large enough, that is, to be shared by four inmates.
DARREN: (muttering to self) That will be the end of privacy, the last vestige of dignity.
The reason we even bother mentioning all of this is, of course, because of its relevance to creativity...
The curtain rises...
SCENE 1: CreativityDisassembled
SCENE 2: Craftsmanship
SCENE 3: Abstraction
SCENE 4: TheFourMethodsOfAcquiringKnowledge
DarrenThemes - My thoughts on the WorkshopThemes