The magic wand and DIY…

Before an exhibition featuring several artists, the painter Turner saw one of his colleagues' paintings and found it a little dull. He took a paintbrush and drew a red circle on the painting. Immediately, his colleague's painting lit up and came to life.

In the world of training and education, as well as in all jobs where relationships and the transfer of knowledge are essential, a personal touch really makes the difference compared to professional conventions and institutional or systemic expectations.

Every day, we see a dizzying array of ‘tips’, “recipes” and ‘toolboxes’ designed to help us, promising success. A wave of the magic wand and the trick is done. This ocean of methods and advice is reassuring: there is certainly something there to draw inspiration from and overcome obstacles. Others have thought for us, tried out the tool, and seen the method succeed.

However, the magic formula ‘letsdoo – weemust’ soon reveals its limitations. The gap between the task and the activity appears as a very real chasm to be crossed. Who will cross it, if not those who are faced with a situation that is, by definition, always unique?

It is necessary to return to the situation, identify its context and its actors, and consider the intended outcome. Finally, it is essential to return to oneself: who am I in this situation? What is my capacity to act? What are my limitations, my resources, and my own abilities? All these answers are milestones in developing a specific response to a specific situation.

The DIY phase can begin. The resulting design will take all these parameters into account and bear the stamp of the designer, in a combination that seeks to meet institutional and systemic expectations as well as standards applied in the workplace. Beyond algorithms and ‘letsdoo-weemust’ injunctions, it is based as much on a bird's-eye view (the end goal in sight) as on a detailed view at ground level (the objective of the action and the resources available to carry it out, before the next action).

Observation, execution, verification and adjustment alternate, each requiring the active participation of the person carrying out the task and calling on a personal creativity, but a creativity based on a detailed knowledge of the environment in which the activity will take place. A lively, adaptive activity, truly driven by the person carrying it out.

The fairy enchants, the handyman creates (although there is nothing to say that the fairy cannot be a handyman too!).