????誰還記得丹尼爾?平克的《自由職業(yè)國》（Free Agent Nation）嗎？1997年發(fā)表于《快速公司》（Fast Company）的這篇文章預(yù)言了一個(gè)明媚的未來，那時(shí)候熟練員工在項(xiàng)目之間自由跳轉(zhuǎn)，不受工作或公司的約束。15年后我們處于截然不同的經(jīng)濟(jì)環(huán)境，出現(xiàn)了“被迫創(chuàng)業(yè)者”，他們也會利用合同工作暫時(shí)過渡，加入自由職業(yè)大軍。同時(shí)自由職業(yè)者的光彩也黯淡下來。

????然而不管獨(dú)立合同工人的數(shù)量增加還是減少，我還是很奇怪為何沒有人關(guān)注他們對東家公司帶來的文化影響。但我也沒發(fā)現(xiàn)什么問題，直到我開始為大型的C類公司工作。

????在我看來，完美的自由職業(yè)者就是那些富有創(chuàng)意的人，他們會以不修邊幅的休閑形象闖進(jìn)會議室，然后又不見蹤影，努力工作直到交差。表面看起來是公平的交易：專才通過短期工作和大公司預(yù)算結(jié)合，而永久雇員也能看看新鮮，體會不同的工作節(jié)奏。

????然而我的夢想被無情地打破了，自由職業(yè)者也無法改變美式公司漫無目的和適得其反的運(yùn)作方式。最大的問題就出在我的同事所說的“醞釀模式”上。

????醞釀模式就是指創(chuàng)作成果/原型/內(nèi)容之間的所謂休耕時(shí)期。基本的想法就是創(chuàng)意工作在作品之間需要休息，要想獲得好的成果，這個(gè)休息期必不可少。作家就很看重這種暫停：寫一陣子，離開去做飯，再回來修改。或者，更多的時(shí)候，你覺得自己寫的就是垃圾，只有出去走走，4個(gè)小時(shí)后再回來繼續(xù)。

????小說家扎迪?史密斯在雜志《信徒》（The Believer）的一篇文章中把時(shí)間進(jìn)一步推遠(yuǎn)。她的建議是，如果你寫完了小說，“把它放進(jìn)抽屜。盡可能的不去看。理想時(shí)間是一年或者更長。”要評判作品，你就需要客觀看待。（對自己的作品，）要達(dá)到那個(gè)心理距離需要時(shí)間。很長的時(shí)間。

????所以我在想，既然公司在過去15年中一直在引入自由職業(yè)者，為何這樣一個(gè)創(chuàng)意工作的基本原則還沒有被公司文化所接受？項(xiàng)目經(jīng)理何曾為無需著手工作的事項(xiàng)安排時(shí)間？

????聰明的現(xiàn)代經(jīng)理對創(chuàng)意只是口頭說說而已，他們的所作所為卻讓創(chuàng)意寸步難行。即使他們也欣賞休息是為了更好的工作這樣的看法，對真正實(shí)行的人他們卻又冷眼相看。他們覺得像個(gè)陀螺般的不停工作很高效、很給力，甚至是一切競爭優(yōu)勢的源頭。處在這樣的高壓環(huán)境中，連多睡一會兒的想法都讓人懷疑不夠敬業(yè)。

????喜劇團(tuán)體蒙提?派森（Monty Python）的演員兼編劇約翰?克里斯對這種愚蠢的做法表示強(qiáng)烈反感。“創(chuàng)意并非天賦，而只是一種運(yùn)作方式。”他在一次錄像講座中如是說，然后又進(jìn)一步解釋說，天賦也許是需要的，但只要天性尚存即可。

????為了解釋這一點(diǎn)，他不點(diǎn)名地批評了一位毫無建樹的劇團(tuán)同事。經(jīng)過對其工作習(xí)慣的多年觀察，克里斯得出的結(jié)論是：盡管此君比克里斯更機(jī)智、更聰明，甚至可以說更幽默，但他太講究效率了。他找到喜劇問題的解決方案，宣告勝利，然后就繼續(xù)下一個(gè)項(xiàng)目。與此相反，克里斯往往會拋棄第一個(gè)、通常那也是最明顯的那個(gè)答案，繼續(xù)思考。克里斯能夠耐得住不上不下的寂寞，所以才能寫出更好的段子。

????Anyone remember the "Free Agent Nation"? Daniel Pink's 1997 Fast Company article heralded a bright future in which the skilled workforce bounced from project by project, unchained from a desk or any one particular company. Fifteen years later and in a different economy, "necessity entrepreneurs" using contracted work as a stopgap measure have joined the happily self-employed. The sheen of free agency has tarnished in the meantime.

????Whether the numbers of independent contractors swell or contract, however, I'm surprised how little attention has been paid to what effect these agents can have on the culture of the companies that contract for their services. But I didn't see much of a problem until I began working with large, capital-C corporate firms.

????In my mind, the business of being the creative type who swooped into the conference room -- hair messy and altogether more casual -- who then retreated to work hard (and unseen) on the contracted deliverables, seemed ideal. It also seemed like a fair trade; the talent brought on short-term got to work with big corporate budgets, while permanent staffers got new faces to look at and a change of pace.

????Any hopes I had that the freelancer could help change some of corporate America's pointless and counterproductive mores were quickly dashed, however. Nowhere did those mores pinch more than when it came to what a colleague once dubbed "gestation mode."

????Gestation mode is the fallow period between versions of a deliverable/prototype/piece of content. The basic idea is that creative output requires rest between drafts, and this resting period can't be skipped if one wants the work done well. Writers are notorious for asserting the importance of time-outs: you write for a while, then you do the dishes, then revise. Or, more likely, you read what you wrote, decide it's garbage, so take a long walk, and return to it four hours later.

????In a piece for The Believer, novelist Zadie Smith pushed the time frame further out. Her advice for anyone who'd finished a novel was, "put it in a drawer. For as long as you can manage. A year or more is ideal." In order to judge the work, one needed to see it objectively. Achieving that psychological distance takes time. A long time.

????So why, I wondered, is an understanding so fundamental to creative production still alien to the corporate cultures that have been inviting in the free agent nation for 15 years now? When was the last time a project manager scheduled time for something not to be worked on?

????Enlightened modern managers pay a lot of lip service to creativity while they simultaneously make real creativity all but impossible. Even if project managers appreciate the idea of breaks, they look sideways at those who put that thought into practice. Working constantly is seen as efficient, sexy, and the source of all competitive advantages, and in such pressured environments even getting enough sleep becomes suspect.

????Monty Python actor and writer John Cleese had strong opinions about how stupid this was. "Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating," he told his audience in a videotaped lecture, before complicating the idea further by suggesting that some talent was required, namely a talent for not being done yet.

????To explain, he referred to an unnamed Monty Python colleague who rarely produced material that really sang. After years of observing the guy's working habits, Cleese concluded that while this man was smarter, cleverer, and arguably funnier than Cleese himself was, he worked too efficiently. He would land on a solution to a comedic problem, declare victory, and move on. Meanwhile, Cleese tended to discard the first -- and often most obvious -- solution that came to mind, and keep stewing. By tolerating the slight discomfort of being mid-process for a longer period of time, he produced better material.