There are commonly-understood strategies for achieving Mihaly-style flow individually… but how does flow behave when synchronously collaborating with a group? Is it psychologically the same? Are the prerequisites the same? I think not! (great lunchtime question from )
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One connection is to Vygotsky's social learning theory, which features similar "up and to the right" charts to Mihaly. Vygotsky suggests that social interaction can expand a learner's "zone of proximal development" (i.e. the sweet spot) through even indirect communication.
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Does a similar thing happen in groups in creative work? Are individuals' "zone of proximal creative possibilities" expanded? In the same way, through the same means? Dubious! Certainly, sometimes synchronous group collaborations lead to that zone *contracting*…
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suspect there’s also a connection here to some of the work being done on psychological safety in group settings, especially since one way to look at the ZPD is a safe space to try & fail. at least IME, this plays a huge role in whether groups make me *feel* more or less creative
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What made for a flow-y pair programming session? What made for an un-flow-y one?
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I've felt that "flow" in design thinking workshops with teams that have done it a few times
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Ditto! What did you notice about those workshops that might have led to flow-ness?
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