Navigating Ambiguity is a book by Andrea Small and Kelly Schmutte. The subtitle is “Creating Opportunity in a World of Unknowns”.
It’s published by the Institute of Design at Stanford (also referred to as “Stanford d.school”), and it’s illustrated with cut-paper artwork.
I was interested in this book because I’ve seen claims that being able to tolerate ambiguity is associated with creativity. But what exactly does tolerating ambiguity mean? And is it something we can get better at? I read the book with those two questions in my mind.
Notes
- Ambiguity is not the same as uncertainty. Uncertainty suggests there’s a definite (but currently unknown) answer, while ambiguity suggests there’s no definite answer.
- Thinking of metaphors to describe ambiguity can be a good way to understand our attitude towards it. There’s a template: “Ambiguity is like ….. because …..” We’re asked to fill in the blanks while considering a particular experience of ambiguity.
- One mindset (of many) is to see ambiguity as “a tool and a resource” (from the table on page 37).
- Three possible attitudes to ambiguity are: endure, engage and embrace. But for an individual, their attitudes are likely to vary based on the situation and context.
- Ambiguity should not always be embraced. From page 49: “Getting comfortable with the unknown is not an antidote for bad communication, toxic culture, unreasonable timelines, and crushing workloads.” There are examples of unhealthy ambiguity, such as cases when information is being deliberately withheld or boundaries are ignored. Our goal should be to use ambiguity for creativity, not to impose ambiguous situations on others.
- Having a strong ability to take action even when the outcome is unknown, balanced with a strong ability to adapt to changing circumstances, is a path towards embracing ambiguity.
- From page 60: “Holding two (sometimes seemingly opposite) ideas at the same time gets you thinking beyond the binary, beyond this or that.” This leads into a substantial section on pairs of opposing approaches that can be balanced while navigating ambiguity. A couple of examples: “Focus/Unfocus (balance your attention)” and “Follow the Course/Create Your Own Path (balance your process)”.
Reflections
I liked how the authors noted that these discussions around ambiguity can also be ambiguous. For example, there are no fixed dividing lines between the three attitudes (endure, engage, embrace).
While working on a creative project, deliberately thinking about the pairs of opposing approaches and ways to balance them should be a useful way to generate ideas. I’d like to experiment with this – I’m planning to write a post in the Testing Creativity Advice category at some point.
Overall, I think this book does a great job at answering the questions I raised at the beginning of the post – the tools provide a practical way for us to build skills in working creatively while in a state of ambiguity.