If the dictionary were to host a popularity contest among its tenants, the word mess would be unlikely to win many awards. As a noun it's something dirty, untidy, confused, and full of difficulties. It's something to be avoided, cleaned up or swept under a rug, or approached with great caution, as in “Careful, that situation's a hot mess.” As a verb it's not much better; it's meddling or interfering with something, or fooling around, often with implied negative consequences. As Al Capone's character expresses in Untouchables, when people mess with him, he's gonna mess with them.
Culturally, the concept of mess in its various forms is typically considered undesirable. Yet research on creativity as well as our work in the Deloitte Greenhouse has shown that being willing to mess with things, to make a mess as our principle advocates, is a critical aspect of breakthrough thinking.81 Indeed, it seems even working in a messy environment can help promote novel ideas.82 So how can you stop shunning mess and instead harness it as a force for good?
Let's start by digging into why mess holds such a negative place in many people's minds. After all, kids usually don't have a problem with mess. They are often the sources of it and they revel in it, while adults look on indulgently. Build ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month, and much more.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
I wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
I’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
I'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
O’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
