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Structure in a creative field

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by dragon katie

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i work mainly in report writing and database admin, but i handle ALL the computer needs of my company. we often joke that my title shoudl be goddess of all that goes beep. the problem is this, the company i work for is trying to becoem a bit mroe structured in its enviroment and routines, sounds graet to have a ncie stabel workign enviroment but my walks aroudn the office brainstorming are now frowned upon, if i am writing code or workign on an idea and break or lunch tiem hits i have to take them RIGHT THEN or miss them. i admit it its jamming me up bad. the boss recoginizes my job is very diffferent from the large custoemr service department this was placed into effect for (for the most part anyways) but isnt sure/doesnt want to, have one odd man out as it were. any ideas how others have handled this in the past i would really apprecaite some input.

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by generalist

This reminds me of the story of the efficiency expert that was asked to evaluate a company.

The expert, after a lot of research, found that there was one person in an office who always appeared to be daydreaming with his feet on the desk. The expert recommended that the person be fired.

The owner of the company, however, corrected the expert. It appears that the 'day dreamer' was a very creative person who had saved the company millions of dollars coming up with ideas. The 'day dreamers' favorite 'brainstorming' spot was at his desk with his feet up.

If this anecdote doesn't help, you might try to educate your boss on certain aspects of creativity. It is not an 8-to-5, clockwork kind of job as a lot of creativity books point out. Forcing a clockwork structure on a person in a creative field is more than a little counter productive.

At the same time, use your creativity to think of ways of meeting the desired degree of 'structure' half way. Perhaps a timecard approach, with the times you take lunch or breaks, might work. (Though I dislike time cards, I will do them for clockwatchers...)

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