Wednesday, September 7, 2016

Charrettes

A charrette is an "intense period of design or planning activity." (Wikipedia)  It comes from the world of architecture, arts and industrial design; a "charrette" was originally a cart that held student's architectural models.

A charrette puts people together on-site to work collaboratively and cross-functionally on a problem.  It is an intense process that compresses time and assumes a deadline, but it is also multi-day and immersive.  Imagine a group of people working frantically on something around a common table, out of their silos, with no consideration of formal roles and a determination to get something done.

There is also supposed to be a design component to the problem solving.   I take that to mean that a desirable end product is the focus, rather than technical or institutional feasibility; and that experimentation, rapid prototyping and a get 'er dun attitude prevails.

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