Outsider 133
EMBRACE AD HOC
Ad hoc has got a bad rap. It has become a negative word and is often used as an insult. Synonyms might include; poor planning, reactionary, irritating, avoidable, amateur. But that's not what it means.
Ad hoc is Latin for "for this" or "for this situation" – synonymous with bespoke, improvised, instinctive, responsive, specific.
Back in the '70s when the phrase Adhocism was coined, this was the definition;
“Adhocism is the art of living and doing things ad-hoc — tackling problems at once, using materials at hand, rather than waiting for the perfect moment or ‘proper’ approach.”
– Charles Jencks and Nathan Silver,
Adhocism: The Case for Improvisation (1972)
SOUNDS LIKE US, RIGHT?
Adhocism bypasses the delays typical of bureaucratic and hierarchical organisations. This strategy undermines approved procedures and expected methods.
Adhocism urges us to pay less attention to the rulebook and more to reality. How things are actually unfolding around us.
To be responsive, to act spontaneously, to meet a particular end, to do things that fall outside the paradigm of pre-strategised intentions and clear objectives is
C-R-E-A-T-I-V-I-T-Y.
RECALL THE MESSAGE TO NOT-PLAN
Last week we stood face-to-face with the reality that things always take longer than you expect (Hofstadter's Law) and the expert advice was to avoid planning in detail;
"...the problem with unforeseen delays is you can't foresee them!" said Burkeman.
With an Ad Hoc approach you receive the gift of real feedback! Not guess-timated, algorithm-mated “predictions”. Live response, from alive people, to alive brand behaviour.
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