The Craftsman by Richard Sennett

Craftsmanship names an enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to do a job well for it’s own sake. Skills that mature and pride in one’s work lies as the heart of craftsmanship as the reward for skill and commitment.

“Craftsmanship” may suggest a way of life that waned with the advent of the industrial society – but this is misleading. Strategy, UX design, interactive design, content strategy, copywriting, software development, search, social media and marketing are all realms of modern craftspeople.

Craftwork

• focuses on objects and impersonal practices
• tempers obsession
• turns the craftsman outward
• integrates doing (how) and reflecting (why); makes and observes at the same time
• embodies repetition, slow revisions, slow learning and cultivation of habit, working memory
• connects the hand to the head
• welcomes ambiguity
• embraces curiosity, investigation, patience
• applies the principle of application of minimum force and release
• uses all available tools (e.g. Instruction through illustration, narrative and metaphors; or innovation through syllogism, intuitive leap, reframing, metaphors, integrative thinking)
• fosters the interplay of practice, imagination, and possibility
• sees resistance as opportunity for reframing, patience, and possible discovery
• improves irregularly by taking detours
• ability to localize, to question and to open up/to

A company dedicated to craftwork:

• values play and experimentation
• fosters transparency
• provides mentorship
• nurtures cooperation and open communications
• encourages training and practice
• exudes calm industry and purpose
• celebrates excellence in craft and craftsmen and craftswomen
• combines cross-domain knowledge
• values metaphors
• supports rituals of craftsmen and craftswomen
• defines objective standards comprehensible to all

A company dedicated to craftwork can sustain itself when it:

• actively pursues good clients and good work
• articulates the value of good work
• turns outwards towards professional community
• actively illuminates meta-knowledge of the craft
• routinely distills wisdom