FPS Narrative Thingy
icklefickle suggested that I post this here. The names are pseudonyms. (No, I don't know any tenth grader named Timmy, nor anyone named Helvetica.) I guess, to start discussion, how much does this resemble your guys' solving experiences? And there's a whole lot more I could put in, but it's really the intro to an essay about types of group workers. Which is why it seems really unfinished.
Less than thirty minutes into the two hour mental marathon that is the Future Problem Solving Competition, all pretense of order has already been abandoned. Papers lie strewn about the table, whereas people are most anywhere but there - Helvetica has shut herself in the hotel bathroom to think, Eustacia is bouncing wildly on the bed, and Timmy has stepped out onto the balcony for some fresh air, leaving me at the 3x3 table. Yet for all the mad energy that permeates the room, the atmosphere is, however momentarily, silent, punctuated only by pencils scratching on clipboards and shouts of, “Wait, was it twelve or sixteen million king crabs discarded in Russia?” and “Would the consequence for the international tensions problem be that other issues wouldn’t be resolved?” There’s a distinct electric feeling of a well oiled, highly productive machine, despite the distinct deviation amongst our behaviors. In fact, one could even argue that our team - indeed, any group of creative thinkers - is stronger for these personality differences, and in our case, we have five state and international awards to attest to that. Yet it is not only in the case of Future Problem Solving where such radical differences in character can create such a strong synergy; indeed, in any situation where creative thinking is required, the best ideas will often not come from a homogenous team. The ideal creative group is instead composed of some people who are wildly crazy, some who are extremely organized and perfectionistic, and a small majority who fall comfortably between the two personality extremes.
Less than thirty minutes into the two hour mental marathon that is the Future Problem Solving Competition, all pretense of order has already been abandoned. Papers lie strewn about the table, whereas people are most anywhere but there - Helvetica has shut herself in the hotel bathroom to think, Eustacia is bouncing wildly on the bed, and Timmy has stepped out onto the balcony for some fresh air, leaving me at the 3x3 table. Yet for all the mad energy that permeates the room, the atmosphere is, however momentarily, silent, punctuated only by pencils scratching on clipboards and shouts of, “Wait, was it twelve or sixteen million king crabs discarded in Russia?” and “Would the consequence for the international tensions problem be that other issues wouldn’t be resolved?” There’s a distinct electric feeling of a well oiled, highly productive machine, despite the distinct deviation amongst our behaviors. In fact, one could even argue that our team - indeed, any group of creative thinkers - is stronger for these personality differences, and in our case, we have five state and international awards to attest to that. Yet it is not only in the case of Future Problem Solving where such radical differences in character can create such a strong synergy; indeed, in any situation where creative thinking is required, the best ideas will often not come from a homogenous team. The ideal creative group is instead composed of some people who are wildly crazy, some who are extremely organized and perfectionistic, and a small majority who fall comfortably between the two personality extremes.