In sponsoring a knowledge ecology, Xerox PARC brought together physicists, sociologists, psychologists, anthropologists, designers, and artists. And in the process, a surprising thing happened. We had always held the traditional view that artists and designers are natural collaborators, as are scientists and engineers. We were wrong. In fact, scientists and artists, who tend to be more inward looking, are highly compatible, as are designers and engineers, who are outward looking.
Innovative organizations learn to be all four dimensions together.
It turns out that artists and scientists collaborate naturally, as do designers and engineers. Both scientists and artists are concerned with looking inward. They're pursuing inner truth, self-expression. On the other side of the coin, no designer or engineer can succeed without thinking about the outer world of user needs and desires. The challenge is to devise dynamic structures that bridge these worlds.