I’ve spent the last few years dabbling around the periphery of collective intelligence.The wisdom of the crowd so to speak.

What I have found most useful in design and problem-solving is not the final solution per say but the questions that are generated at the discovery phase of the project. Quite often the seed of a good solution is rooted in well-thought out question and really understanding the problem to be solved.

The discovery moment is usually the result of scaffolding on another person’s thought. Someone shares a perspective that is different from yours, your brain seeks associations to put this thought into context, new connections are made.

The constant exposure and exercise of this scaffolding exercise we do creates great opportunities for innovation. Every day we seek to solve complex problems with the limited experience we have lived so far and it seems like a very daunting task sometimes. Perhaps what is needed is “the wisdom of the questions from the crowd” to inspire new solutions. Perhaps not in the solution but in the questions and problem definition. Once we understand the problem the solutions usually come rapidly and logically.

– Kelly Parke