Generative Constraints

Imagine two project briefs.

In the first one, I ask you to build a chat application like Slack. You have unlimited time and can use AI as much as you want.

This is Project A.

In the second one, I ask you to build the same chat application. However, you only have six weeks and you cannot use AI at all.

This is Project B.

What’s the difference? Constraints.

Project A has limited constraints. You can build the application to whatever standards you set. The most likely outcome is you focus on the wrong details, build too much, and attempt to create a direct replica of Slack.

Project B is a different story. The time and technological constraints force you to consider every decision. You make trade-offs. You only build what’s necessary. You come up with novel solutions and innovations when constraints force pressure. Without AI, you’re forced to be an active participant on the creative journey. Your application may do less than Project A, but that wasn’t the only outcome of the constraints. You learned, evolved, and improved.

People are as much the product of creation as the outputs they create.

But you can’t learn through the process if you don’t engage The Forces of Constraint:

Creativity + Friction + Tension

Constraints breed creativity.

In Inside the Box: How Constraints Make Us Better, David Epstein writes:

That’s the thing about constraints that spur creativity: They shut down many possibilities, but stimulate more varied and novel exploration of those that remain.

The iPhone and its touchscreen keyboard were born from constraint. Novel solutions emerge when limitations force decisions.

Limit your options to find new solutions.

Constraints embrace friction.

Friction is a valuable force. As technology races to eliminate it from our lives, it’s never been more important to embrace friction.

When my boss went on paternity leave, the sales team flooded me with meetings and requests. Before he left, we were splitting the workload. After, it was just me. But I also had other responsibilities: design, engineering, strategy. So something had to give.

We have an excellent sales engineer who handles demos and answering technical product questions. I meet with him for 30 minutes every Monday. He shares feedback and I share product knowledge. It’s already an exchange of information, so it was a natural place to funnel requests for my time.

Every request goes through him first. He decides whether it’s worth my time. And when someone comes to me directly, he chases them down to reiterate the process.

The friction forced the sales team to be mindful with their requests. And the positive byproduct is they’re incentivized to build product knowledge so they can handle more requests on their own.

Embrace friction to compound improvements.

Constraints identify tension.

Tension is different than friction. If friction is about restriction of movement, then tension is about management of conflict. And sometimes you don’t need to resolve it.

You need to use it.

We’ve made product changes to add more self-serve options. This included expanded plans for teams. With a sales team focused on selling enterprise licenses, there’s an immediate tension between team plans and larger enterprise plans. A deal might be “lost” to a smaller self-serve plan. But it’s also a good thing for the product because now there’s a paying customer to expand.

We need value in both plans. We need to live in the tension and use it to define constraints that increase equal value. We keep adjusting the maximum seats for a team plan. We’re adding more value to the enterprise plan.

We let the tension inform the work.

Find the tension to discover the work.

Creativity needs constraints. Friction and tension emerge in the process.

What constraints can you create in your work?