Doing the Right Things

Abstract

In John Tabita’s essay “Doing Things Right versus Doing the Right Things,” he discusses two different approaches in the business management world: tactical thinking and strategic thinking. This opens up an interesting debate between creating the vision and implementing the vision. He offers a fair argument for both approaches. They are beneficial to tackling a problem and fundamental to success in business. Yet there is a critical tension between a tactical thinker who tends to “do things right” and a strategic thinker who is inclined to “do the right things.” “If you do something ‘right,’ but it is the wrong thing to do, your efforts will be futile. Conversely, if you do the ‘right thing,’ but you do it wrong, you will also fail miserably” (Tabita 2011, n.p.). How can we apply this inquiry to architectural pedagogy? The current model of architectural program curricula is based on the tactical approach, predominantly skill-based design education. Therefore, the measure of success in architectural pedagogy of NAAB-accredited programs tends to be solutions for tackling a design problem. While the tactical thinking process is needed and essential, how can we implement the strategic thinking process into our current architecture curricula to promote the idea of “Doing the Right Things”? The research paper is rooted in an upper-division special topics course, Data-Driven Research Methods, and will showcase two projects. The first, Spatial Network Analysis for Oklahoma City Streetcar, is focused on the infrastructure of the streetcar and its effects on the urban environment. The second project, Interactive Podium, uses embedded computing technology to create a visual platform for interaction between users. By developing diverse perspectives of the research process, the architecture curricula can nurture an effective decision-making process and proactively seek the “right things.”