http://scottvandam.com/blog/2010/03/concrete-is-the-opposite-of-abstract/ My Personal Blog Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:59:23 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://scottvandam.com/blog/2010/03/concrete-is-the-opposite-of-abstract/comment-page-1/#comment-299 Leslie Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:32:54 +0000 http://scottvandam.com/blog/?p=241#comment-299 I fancy calling Abstractos = Innovators, and Concreters = Implementers. I have often worked with effective/fast implementers, but not always good innovators. The shortest path between two points looks different from the ground, than from the hill-top. The implementer looks to his tools to get to the goal asap. The innovator looks for a hill. There is inherent tension between the two. When we run into impasses, we look ahead, whether we blame the tools or ourselves. Innovators re-calibrate the tools and endeavor to bypass the barrier, sometimes to find themselves at the same or a new impasse once more. Eventually, someone cries, “Stop! Find a hill, and report back.” And the innovator smiles. "Little pain" points to tools. "Big pain" points to hills. "Before pain" points to nothing new. I like hills, and get jazzed by the view as well as sharing them with skilled implementers. Today, I’m in the hills. A quote seems apropos: “It is wonderful what you can do when you have to.” ~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963) And which way is more wonderful: concrete or abstract? The answer is "Yes". I fancy calling Abstractos = Innovators, and Concreters = Implementers.
I have often worked with effective/fast implementers, but not always good innovators. The shortest path between two points looks different from the ground, than from the hill-top.
The implementer looks to his tools to get to the goal asap.
The innovator looks for a hill. There is inherent tension between the two.
When we run into impasses, we look ahead, whether we blame the tools or ourselves. Innovators re-calibrate the tools and endeavor to bypass the barrier, sometimes to find themselves at the same or a new impasse once more. Eventually, someone cries, “Stop! Find a hill, and report back.” And the innovator smiles.
“Little pain” points to tools. “Big pain” points to hills. “Before pain” points to nothing new.
I like hills, and get jazzed by the view as well as sharing them with skilled implementers.
Today, I’m in the hills. A quote seems apropos:
“It is wonderful what you can do when you have to.”
~C.S. Lewis (1898-1963)
And which way is more wonderful: concrete or abstract?
The answer is “Yes”.

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