Model

Terms, Concepts and Definitions

This model is an informative representation the aim of which is to make particular parts or features of AI in the creative domain easier to conceive, plan or implement, by referencing it to existing and usually commonly accepted knowledge. The model proposes selecting and identifying relevant aspects of AI in models replicating aspect systems¹ embodying creative domain features.

The model differentiates between functional organization (constructive; horizontal orientation), paradigmatic² organization (strategic; vertical orientation) and phases. Functional and paradigmatic organization bring forth a framework (matrix) with four main cells. Cells can be in any configuration of one or more phases (states).

 

 

 

Functional

Front office and back office are distinct and crucial parts of an organization’s functioning, playing different roles and serving different functions, each with its own specific competences and responsibilities.

 

Paradigmatic

Put simply, there are two ruling paradigms: the inside-out approach and the outside-in approach. Assuming the overarching goal of an organization to synthesize into creating value, these two approaches use different means to achieve that same end. In economic terms, inside-out and outside-in refer to opposite (dual) schemes for creating value and achieving result. Either scheme can be effective and many organizations adopt an approach on a spectrum between them.

 

Phases

Discovery and innovation evolve in coherence but in a nonuniform manner. These naturally recursive (cyclic) processes lead to domains (phases) of divergence (gathering and collecting), integration (systematization and organization) and convergence (choices and selections). Cells can be in one or more of these three cyclic phases (any combination of configurations of states).

 

Functional: Front Office and Back Office

Front Office

Front office is the part that directly interacts with the environment (distribution and presentation layers; consumers, customers and other external stakeholders, typically involving functions such as sales, marketing, customer service and support). The front office is a first (and often sole) point of contact (decoupling point) between an organization and its environment, and thus instrumental in creating impressions and building relationships. Functions tend to demand strong service as well as communication skills.

Back Office

Back office refers to all the functions that are not front office ones. Indeed, the back office even is responsible for the front office’s day-to-day working as well as for providing support to help ensure that external-facing activities run smoothly. By taking care of all the details, it is the overall support structure that handles operational tasks that are necessary for the functioning of the whole organization (typically including finance, support tasks such as ICT, data processing and record-keeping and operations).

Back offices typically aim at structured, routine-based and purposeful organizing of work environments by concentrating on specific tasks and processes and by developing specializations allowing a deeper understanding of the areas of expertise concerned.

Unlike the front office, the back office has no direct involvement or interaction with the environment and rather than interpersonal or communication skills requires technical and specialized skills. Back office functions may involve working in teams that are in part outside the back office.

Remark

Front offices need but limited access to information, while back offices must have full access to essentially all (including sensitive and confidential) information. Both need ICT provisions for sophisticated forms of collaboration and supportive work environments.

Paradigmatic: Inside-Out and Outside-In

Core business involves choosing how to use different means to reach goals. There are two universal schemes for economically creating value and accomplish result, inside-out and outside-in.

 

Strategy

Strategy molds priorities, allocation of scarce resources and myriad decisions that are made every day. Strategy is the pattern of decision making in an organization (system) involving

conceiving, determining and revealing (identification, analysis and representation of) objectives, purposes or goals

planning, producing and realizing the principal policies and arrangements for achieving those goals

implementing, organizing and providing for the necessary conditions for allocating scarce resources

by defining

the range of activities (business) the organization is to pursue

the kind of economic (sub structure) and creative (super structure) organization it is or wants to be

the nature of the economic and non economic relations it intends to have with its environment

Strategy is critical, basically for everyone. An AI strategy also may be critical, but clearly not for everybody. An AI strategy is to act as compass (where). It suggests direction not goal (what). Goals always should be business driven. Moreover, an AI strategy need not specify any of the kind of activities to be organized (how). Typically it may be conceived free from the institutional (political), societal (social cultural) and market (economic) base. A good AI strategy appreciates that the future unfolds in ways that are utterly unforeseeable as frequently as they are surprisingly predictable. Therefore, AI strategy is foremost strategic analysis and this analysis in the end is to be embedded well in the global strategy.

Sooner or later organizations face choosing (have to positioning themselves) either to target a broad or to target a narrow segment.

Broad-scope tends to indiscriminately deliver concrete satisfiers that appeal to a wide range of segments’ abstract requirements. This is done by offering individual concrete satisfiers with a clear attractiveness or by offering a portfolio of concrete satisfiers that cover the product space. Broad-scope strategies usually address a large variety of bilaterally commensurate concrete satisfiers and abstract requirements. In contrast, aiming for a restricted set of abstract requirements together with the corresponding concrete satisfiers targets a specific segment only. Considering but a limited selection is known as a narrow-scope strategy. The emphasis is on segmentation, small-batch manufacture and distinctive craftsmanship (specialization), leading to the development of specific knowledge and abilities (niche). Narrowing down focus can be advantageous. A limited strategy encourages to look for methods to improve core activities. Broad-scope and narrow-scope occupy opposite ends of a spectrum.

 

Paradigms and Perspectives

A distinction is made between paradigms and perspectives.

Paradigms model problems and solutions. There are two ruling paradigms:

the inside-out approach

the outside-in approach

There are four perspectives (types of positioning):

the inside-inwards positioning

the inside-outwards positioning

the outside-inwards positioning

the outside-outwards positioning

 

Inside-Out

Core

The inside-out approach (injective function; monomorphism; faithful functor) is guided by the belief that inner strengths and capabilities make an organization prevail. Effective use of company resources and core competencies are seen as main drivers of value creation. Inside-out strategists claim organizations to achieve greater efficiencies and adapt more quickly to changing circumstances with this approach.

Method

Inside-out (push out) begins by taking inventory of an organization’s internal strengths. Focus primarily is on the capabilities within the organization (co sieving), with emphasis on domains with interconnected items of knowledge and representations of problem solving processes, supported by effective (managerial; formal and factual) protocols and efficient (adjunct business) processes.

Specifics

The focal entity of an organization’s inside-out scheme is the organization itself. It examines what its resources are and directs them into doing what it decides is valuable to outside recipients (systems, consumers, customers). Inside-out schemes rest on a proactive strategy: by initiating change rather than responding to it, an inside-out scheme has the potential to disrupt (externally as well as internally). The main challenge is how to optimize the use of scarce resources.

 

Remarks

Evidently, many cultural heritage institutions tend to be inherently inside-out. This kinda follows from the very concept of cultural heritage and the way most of these institutions are organized, financed or legally prescribed (institutionalized). Obviously, there are outside-in aspects to cultural heritage institutions too, but these typically would play but a secondary role, in most instances.

Members of the creative industries and the arts may kind of reside well in both schemes, especially when adopting a flexible approach on the spectrum of the two approaches.

 

Outside–In

Core

The outside-in approach (surjective function; epimorphism; full functor) assumes value creation by outward orientation and customer satisfaction to be the keys to success. Long-term value is a consequence of intertwined compact monitoring and commensurate (corresponding adjoint) provision of value. The organizational culture is outward oriented. Targeted segments are primary sources of information and development; understanding the environment provides directions of where to focus.

Method

Outside-in (pull back) involves steadfast efforts into understanding the befitting orientations of the environment (market) to which the organization wishes to appeal, address or act upon (sieving). This forces viewing the environment from an inside-out perspective (hence the duality). Outside-in schemes focus on needs and intentions that exist organically in the environment (market) and strive to keep pace with those needs and intentions, because there always are differences between what is being made (concrete satisfiers) and what is being needed (abstract requirements).

Specifics

It is a reactive strategy, as it involves responding to conditions of the environment. It thus requires additional time and effort to gather the quantitative and qualitative data on which to base its direction and activities. The outside-in approach works when there either is sufficient reliable knowledge of what constitutes value to different segments (covering of the domain of the surjection) or with the right kind of entrepreneurial intuition (axiom of choice). As a result, actions are targeted and precise, rather than wasteful and unfocused. The main challenge is how to create products, services or experiences that are of value to recipients in the environment.

 

Perspectives

There is a simple two-axis matrix

where to focus

inside (centered on the internal context³)

outside (oriented towards the broader context)

where to look for business-drivers⁴

inwards (looking inward to an internal context)

outwards (looking outward to the broader context)

This gives four types of perspectives onto⁵ AI. Note that each of these perspectives is valid in its own way. But using an inappropriate perspective for a given task can make things go badly wrong, so there needs to be clarity which perspective to use at any time, and why.

 

Inside-inwards

Focus is solely on the internal workings of the organization, a black box (monad) to anyone outside.

Inside-inwards involves a single specific internal context (only internal interactions going on) and assessing it in its own terms. Within this perspective, the external business-drivers are assumed to remain the same (ceteris paribus): it is solely about the internal view, about internal consistency, internal efficiency and effectiveness.

This is the kind of perspective needed for ‘clean up the mess’ or ‘getting the basics right first’ type of work that must be done to create stable foundations for subsequent strategic development.

 

Inside-outwards

Focus is on how the organization presents itself and its value propositions (injective concrete satisfiers⁶) to the outside world.

Inside-outwards involves a single internal context and assessing the impact of changes in the external business-drivers on that context; everything external is viewed solely in terms of that context.

 

Outside-inwards

Focus is on how the outside world sees the organization and makes its requests (surjective dialogues⁷ and abstract requirements⁸) to the organization.

Outside-inwards involves understanding choices in how an internal context can play a valued part within the broader context.

 

Outside-outwards

Realizing a general-purpose narrative about the organization, including all the stakeholders, within the broader context of the wider world.

Outside-outwards involves understanding the broader context in its own terms, regardless of how the organization acts (organized behavior⁹) within that context.

Phases

There are three phases: divergence, integration and convergence. Each phase addresses three sets of questions:

demarcation: what precisely falls under the domain of discourse chosen, and what not

focus: given an agreed upon and well demarcated domain of discourse, what specific topics are addressed and elaborated upon, and what topics are not taken into further consideration

demarcation and focus together result in a specific (extensional surjective) and specialized (intensional injective) domain of discourse

variety conditioning: given a specific and specialized domain of discourse

what subject matters are to be addressed with the aim of providing as many as possible variations so as to generate sets of divergent views (sets of problem statements)

which divergent views are to be addressed with the aim of inducing representations on accurate problem statements

which representations on accurate problem statements align sufficiently with possible solutions

 

Divergence

Defining the Opportunity, Challenge or Problem (Domain of Discourse)

Rationale

The first step towards dealing with an opportunity, challenge or problem is identifying it. This involves organizing actors concerned to provide as many as possible variations of the problem issues addressed, so generating the set of divergent views (set of problem statements).

Planning

The three issues to be addressed are:

demarcation: specify the boundaries of the domain of discourse under consideration by precisely determining what is relevant and what is not

focus: given an agreed upon definition, what are the topics to elaborate upon and what topics are not further investigated

variety conditioning: once there is consensus on a specific and specialized domain, what are the issues to be tackled to render variations of problem statements

 

Integration¹⁰

Finding Representations

Rationale

Integration is about investigating divergent views (sets of problem statements) to induce representations on accurate problem statements.

Planning

There are three tasks to be carried out:

data is used to validate divergent hypotheses

divergent views sufficiently validated are systematized (order, measure or metric)

scanning closely though all the views ensures the whole landscape of possibilities to be covered

 

Convergence

Modeling the Solution

Rationale

Convergence involves ideating on the possible solutions.

Planning

Upon possible solutions sufficient aligning with the problem statement, convergence emerges by evaluating how different solutions fit into action plans.

 

Getting Started

Understanding Options, Constraints and Impossibilities

Modeling

 

Footnotes