Over Christmas I discovered Lego Serious Play. This is not the typical brain storming tool, for which Lego is often used, but an approach to exposing and sharing knowledge/requirements/ideas.
Instead of building models of physical things with the Lego blocks, you build metaphors, models of ideas. It’s rooted in the constructionist ideas of the likes of Papert and Piaget. (I would n’t have know what that was a couple of years ago, but I now know I’m both a constructionist and constructivist. And I believe I know the difference.) The argument is that using your hands engages more of the brain in the thinking process. Making it easier to express the idea. And as bricks mean exactly what you intend them to mean, the models only have to really mean something to the builder. But by describing their model, builders then share the meaning and therefore the idea. Either with others, or just with themselves.
Given the recent career change and health scare, I’ve had a lot to figure out. So I’ve been making quite a few models. Honestly: I’m not just playing with the Lego. Ok, sometimes I am. But I like to think of that as having a proper work/life balance.
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