There is a recognition that the software development profession is a young field which needs evolution to achieve the reliable success enjoyed by other professions and that it combines elements of science, engineering and art. The artistic and creative aspects are more mysterious.
My study has been a combination of Fine Art and Information Systems and I see great potential benefits from improving creativity in systems development. Creativity is an intrinsic part of understanding and solving problems whether you are a hobbyist, programmer, sysadmin, tester, manager or client. However its an idea which generally horrifies anyone responsible for a development, especially from managers of large projects. Ignoring creativity limits opportunities, reducing the effectiveness of systems and change.
In this talk I explore creativity, art, experimentation, ideas and models in the hope that you can realise your own great moments of inspiration and build better systems with less struggle.
“... artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.” - Sol LeWitt
Mathew Oakes has been a graphic designer since the dawn of desktop publishing and studied a degree in Fine Art and Information Systems along the way. Following the tradition of conceptual art, he learnt programming by experimentation while pursuing creative projects, eventually becoming a professional developer and now a designer again. Python has been a key tool in making programming accessible to his creative mind, and providing a broad scope of capabilities to explore.
