Author Description

Workflow can mean different things. It mostly refers to the deliberate, rational organization of work, primarily in the context of manufacturing. A workflow usually consists of an orchestrated and repeatable pattern of production activity enabled by the systematic organization of resources into processes that transform materials, provide services, or process information. Although the implementation of schematized workflow principles on the factory floor has proven to be an effective strategy to increase productivity in terms of speed and thus quantity, it also implies a degradation of work for those on both sides of the divide between the work of the hand and work of the mind. Traditionally, the process of making was characterized by continuity in time and space: local artisans controlled the production chain which took place in the workshop. Artisans relied on skills, acquired through years of practice, and developed a tacit intuition which guided their decision-making processes. Simultaneously, the direct involvement with materials through manual work provided practitioners with a sense of satisfaction and pleasure. In fact, the psychological term flow is highly apt to describe the working activity of artisans. A flow refers to a mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. The operation required can be both concrete or abstract and the separation of head and hand does not make any difference to being in the zone. Instead of being a highly schematized and pre-patterned activity, a work-flow in this sense denotes an intuitive stream of thoughts and actions, of words and images, walking along a path of discovery. Along the path of discovery, every certainty is turned into a question. Material is not known for what it is, but by what it does specifically when mixed with other materials, treated in particular ways, or placed in parti