Just-In-Time PM #8: Divergence and Convergence

In Part 7, I argued for the importance of interacting with information, instead of just passively consuming it. Interaction results in better learning at the same time as it creates valuable deliverables.

But incorporating all these new ideas about how work is completed – flow cycles and intermediate packets, downscoping and evolving deliverables, interaction over consumption – can be a little overwhelming. You may be wondering, “how do I know which of these techniques I should be doing at any given time?”

There is a very simple model drawn from Design Thinking that is helpful when thinking about abstract work. It is called divergence and convergence.

The basic idea is that all creative work is completed in one of these two modes, which alternate back and forth: