Improv for Engineers / Improv for Innovation
2000s-present
Applied-improv work in R&D, product design, and creative-technical teams — framed by Keith Sawyer's *Group Genius* (2007) as the science of collaborative innovation.
Known for
- Keith Sawyer (Washington U. / UNC) spent years interviewing jazz ensembles and improv troupes, then mapped the dynamics onto Silicon Valley R&D teams.
- *Group Genius* (2007) argues: innovation is never individual — it emerges from group-flow conditions modeled on jazz and improv.
- Ten conditions for group flow: shared goals, close listening, full concentration, autonomy, ego blending, equal participation, familiarity, good communication, progress orientation, and 'the potential for failure.'
- Used at IDEO, Stanford d.school, Google X — improvisers run 'brain-trust' workshops for engineering teams stuck in convergent-thinking ruts.
Connected to
Concepts