How do you practice your architecture?

[Architect]

Related to the thread I posted on INTP ultimate purpose, how do you practice your architecture and systems/theory designing, and how would you like to do this?

Primarily I do it by designing software systems. It's my purpose in life, my art/craft and the trade I practice.

Secondarily I do it via photography. Purely personal hobby, I have no intentions to make it economic. It is satisfying to be somewhere and to find the good pictures in the scene, by manipulating the camera, equipment, location and even the scene itself.

On my wish list is composing music. I've never been able to pull it off, probably won't ever be able to do it but I have some hopes.

 

[Hadoblado]

I play about with strategy. I used to play drums, but once I realized I would need to practice in order to develop the skills needed to execute my designs, I quit. I'm thinking of taking up drawing or writing, but again, these things take practice before you can communicate your mind's eye.

 

[Coolydudey]

I've got an easy way out: maths... I also use to love photography btw, almost entered a competition, then got bored of it after a year and a half...

 

[TimeAsylums]

I psychoanalyze everyone, not even intentionally, sometimes passively. I love seeing how the systems (people: their psyches, their beings) work and function, and when you get : family history, genetics, preferences, past and current actions, word usage/diction and combine them all, you get something beautiful, i'm not speaking to the predictability of people, but rather of how they function...and sometimes why.

otherwise i'm just taking in knowledge and understanding...building...architect-ing...something.

 

[WALKYRIA]

Architecture of self(mind, entourage, friends, life trajectory...Etc), the first few decades(poor...etc)..

 

[Rocco]

Composing music is tough for INTPs, from what I've seen. It seems like it would be a great outlet for the architect in us, but in practice, it involves simultaneous design and execution. It is severely taxing, and difficult to get right.

Maybe I've been making a mistake by trying to use Fe to compose, though... I just find that the more cerebral types of music don't interest me much, and I'm not as satisfied with my own work when I take that approach. *shrug*

 

[Absurdity]

Ditto on photography. They offered darkroom photo classes at my high school and I quickly fell in love. I found the whole process very soothing, and still miss the smell of the darkroom chemicals.

Unfortunately I no longer have access to a darkroom, and getting your rolls developed at a drugstore just isn't the same.

Architecture of self(mind, entourage, friends, life trajectory...Etc), the first few decades(poor...etc)..

This is something I've recently embarked on as well. Feels good to get back on an even keel. I've also found myself caught in a positive feedback loop where doing well leads to feeling well which leads to continuing to do well.


My main one, one that has been with me a number of years no, is what I call my ethico-political framework. Purely descriptive now (as opposed to proscriptive), I try to refine it to better understand and explain phenomenon that occurs in the world. I think a lot of INTPs do this - try to come up with a comprehensive worldview of sorts. Recently I feel as though I've made a breakthrough, and am considering creating a blog thread of my own to explore it.

 

[pjoa09]

I practice photography through instagram as amateurish and undetermined as that sounds.

I play the guitar time to time but I haven't done actual deliberate practice ever. Maybe learn a few songs here and there but much of the time I am just working my fingers trying to find that tone.

I really want to get around to math and programming again but I just feel like wasting time.
Not fully in the zone focused.

 

[Ink]

I psychoanalyze everyone, not even intentionally, sometimes passively. I love seeing how the systems (people: their psyches, their beings) work and function, and when you get : family history, genetics, preferences, past and current actions, word usage/diction and combine them all, you get something beautiful, i'm not speaking to the predictability of people, but rather of how they function...and sometimes why.

otherwise i'm just taking in knowledge and understanding...building...architect-ing...something.

This!

I think you can architect in everything... I play the piano as well, not sure how to think of it in function use. I definitely use a lot of Ne and Fe, but the better I get at improvising the more Si I use, and probably Ti then as well

 

[TimeAsylums]

Heheh, yeah I guess it works my Fe too a little
Oh, and every time I come into contact with a new person - they might intrigue me - especially if they are hard to figure out. It helps in daily interactions because you can assume how the other person/people might react to something etc...
Of course I'm guessing most(many?some?) INTPs do this on many levels whether passively or actively, being perceptive creatures

 

[Duxwing]

I practice my architecture by thinking and debating about anything and with anything that moves, respectively.

-Duxwing

 

[Architect]

Composing music is tough for INTPs, from what I've seen. It seems like it would be a great outlet for the architect in us, but in practice, it involves simultaneous design and execution. It is severely taxing, and difficult to get right.

That's an interesting statement. I found composing quite difficult and never got it. Studied with a famous modern composer too, who I really think is an INTP. He called it craft, not theory/design/architecture.

On simultaneous design & architecture I think that's a necessary and good step for any architectural effort, even for the INTP. Too easy to get lost in the clouds.

 

[SpaceYeti]

I play RPGs, and am generally the GM. I have three distinct game worlds I tend to go back to (which I made)(unless you don't count the one I "retired"), and I generally branch out to different ones, too. I'm even currently designing one of my own, as well as other card games and one board game.

Also, I write stories, but I generally start them without finishing before I reach half-way.

 

[TimeAsylums]

Also, I write stories, but I generally start them without finishing before I reach half-way.

yep.

 

[Synthetix]

Improving old tricks. This could include adding on to basic cups and balls, for instance add a box to the left or right on a different table, open the box and present what was thought to be in the cups, not too impressive, but there are ways to pimp out the oldest tricks in the book, like when Penn and Teller saw the woman in the box in half, reveal how the classic trick is done, and then saw thru the divide where the saw is supposed to stop in the original, leaving the audience guessing. It doesn't seem like much architecture compared you computer programmers and gamers, but I'd like to think it is. Or, coming up with new tricks, trying to at least.

 

[Vrecknidj]

For about 30 years, I played RPGs and did quite a bit of my building of things through that. Now that I write and edit in the field, but don't play as much, I get to create in a different way.

Also, I teach, have been in management, have raised kids -- all those are outlets.

Every book I read, I read with a pencil in hand, and I argue with the author. That, for me, is a way to construct mental systems (or, sometimes, add on to someone else's).

This year, I also picked up a job as an organizer for a union (not exactly a typical INTP profession), but, it's forced me to apply myself in the social world. Interestingly, I've used these other skills there. I build. I build relationships. I build relationships between others. Etc.

 

[Late2theParty]

how do you practice your architecture and systems/theory designing, and how would you like to do this?

Currently, I'm having to learn a lot in terms of web design so I've been really having to dig in and develop my Ti much more than other areas of my life which have been very loose and full of procrastination. I'm currently working on breaking down really large problems into tiny manageable bites that I'm not terrified of... and modeling things out before I jump in and start making them.

I also do a lot of little bits of analysis, throughout the day. I try to figure out the MBTI type of everyone I meet / know. I read a lot of little articles and it gets me on tangents to analyze. I get on this forum and try to articulate well thought out responses. I do martial arts, and putting the pieces together on how to take someone down is very much like a chess game (in my style). I'll analyze my life and myself in general.

Music... (see below)

Originally Posted by Rocco
Composing music is tough for INTPs, from what I've seen. It seems like it would be a great outlet for the architect in us, but in practice, it involves simultaneous design and execution. It is severely taxing, and difficult to get right.
That's an interesting statement. I found composing quite difficult and never got it. Studied with a famous modern composer too, who I really think is an INTP. He called it craft, not theory/design/architecture.

On simultaneous design & architecture I think that's a necessary and good step for any architectural effort, even for the INTP. Too easy to get lost in the clouds.

I've been interested in music / composition for quite some time and I find it very difficult. However I have come up with some solutions.

1) be the director / producer. I have tons of great ideas for hooks, pieces and overall left field ideas for direction. but I can't develop the details and structures well. If you can find others who are better at those areas that want to join your project then you can "direct" them.

2) Have somebody else produce you. I noticed that some of my favorite artists can't hash out the details either... they let somebody else do that. Thom Yorke for instance (who is an INFP) says he constantly struggles with doing the fine detail work... and yet radiohead's output is so well crafted and complex. Upon further research, it seems their producer Nigel Godrich is their director and he is able to take Thom's great nebulous ideas and along with the rest of the band give them concrete structure / details and direction. With this approach finding the right partner is critical, it won't work unless you have the right one.

3) Don't write, listen. - I got this advice from watching a documentary on Philip Glass (A portrait of Philip Glass in 12 parts) who I'm pretty sure is an INTP. His whole approach to composing is not to actually write anything himself, just to write down what he hears. Basically, he just lets music bubble up in his mind and tries to transcribe it. Through doing this process all the time for many years he's become quite good. (Having tried this myself... over time you start to hear better and better things the more you do it. ) He throws away what's bad and keeps what's good, but he continuously keeps transcribing, all day long.


4) Don't write much at all, analyze and blog about it - I'm actually working on this now and ties into the first question on this post. I like to analyze music as much as play / and make it. I also like analyzing the best ways and approaches to make music, why artists go bad over time...etc, all sorts of stuff. There's so much unexplored territory in terms of analysis and modeling of music (especially pop music) that nobody realizes and few ppl seem to talk about. I realized it's wide open area to blog about and I'm currently in the process of developing one. I will have to compose a lot of examples to explain certain scenarios, I think this will very challenging and rewarding.


WISH LIST:

I would like to develop / work on or model something that helps improve the world. But I don't think I have a refined skillset enough for this yet.