I’ve recently tried to analyse the way I work and put myself into some kind of framework so that I could study myself more closely.
Since a lot of what I do is orchestrating things, people, processes, etc: I mysteriously landed on the term architect (perhaps because part of what I do is called information architecture).
Architects have a vision of the final result from the beginning, whereas a gardeners plant a seed, probably knowing what plant it is, but not exactly how many leaves or stems it will develop.
What is a WikiGardener?
This quote by Brian Eno is borrowed from Gordon Branders note on exactly this topic:
Since I have always preferred making plans to executing them, I have gravitated towards situations and systems that, once set into operation, could create music with little or no intervention on my part.
That is to say, I tend towards the roles of planner and programmer, and then become an audience to the results.
— Brian Eno, Music, time and Long-term thinking
This quote reflects my own general mode. I prefer planning over execution, so to make work efficient, I usually make a programme, or a set of rules that work is generated from, and like Brian Eno, I become the spectator.
Gardeners and architects are both planners
Comparing architects and gardeners is interesting because they both serve a similar role: They are planners.
Where an architect plans for a fixed, final result. The gardener plans for an organic growth into the result.
See digital garden
Top-down vs bottom-up planning
Where the architect might be seen as a master planner, a kind of foreman, who instructs people what to do on a high level. The gardener plans and works on the ground with other gardeners, one gardener might be responsible, but they still work together with and alongside the other gardeners.
References
Digital Gardeners A github repo of ‘a collective of gardeners publicly tending their digital notes on the interwebs’