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You can separate most work into two buckets: well-defined and ambiguous .
- Well defined work is the kind of recognizable work where the client has clarity around both the problem and solution.
- Ambiguous work on the other hand is where either the problem or solution are not fully formed.
tomcritchlow.com • Rejecting Specialization
Ambiguity in visual design ultimately leads to a greater variety of functions than designs that are functionally fixed.
Andrea Zittel • Andrea Zittel, "These Things I Know for Sure"
All Senior Work is Ambiguous.
tomcritchlow.com • Rejecting Specialization
Since the beginning of time, the answer to “What do you do?” could be answered with one word.
Finance. Sales. Education.
But today, most jobs exist in liminal spaces: Kind of like this but also not quite that.
It may have been fair to think that any explanation longer than a one-word, universally understood, job title was just an attempt to look
... See moreAlex Tan • #059 Environment Design
An email arrives that informally represents a new responsibility for you to manage; because there’s no formal process in place to assign the work or track its progress, you seek instead the easiest way to get the responsibility off your plate—even if just temporarily—so you send a quick reply asking for an ambiguous clarification. Thus unfolds a
... See moreCal Newport • A World Without Email
More than just trust however, ambiguous work requires a specific kind of energy. Consulting is about changing clients. You’re often an outsider, brought in to catalyze some kind of change that the client has been unable to change on their own.
tomcritchlow.com • Rejecting Specialization
Great positioning, if you can pull it off, can lead to ambiguous work.
tomcritchlow.com • Rejecting Specialization
The vague trap hides from agency by never defining the problem, let alone a solution. It lives on vague fluffy thoughts.