CONCEPT
The Zigzag Model
Sawyer's empirical finding that creativity does not proceed linearly from inspiration to execution but zigzags between problem formulation and solution generation — each iteration redefining the problem in light of what the attempted solution revealed.
The zigzag model describes what Sawyer's fieldwork revealed about how creative work actually unfolds: not as linear progression from inspiration to execution, but as a repeating zigzag between problem formulation and solution generation, where each iteration redefines the problem in light of what the attempted solution revealed. Dylan did not start with "Like a Rolling Stone" and then figure out how to realize it. He started with twenty pages of rage, and the process of condensing, collaborating, and performing gradually revealed what the song actually was. The framework maps with striking precision onto what builders report when working with AI: the half-formed idea, the conversation that clarifies it, the clarified version that opens new problem territory, the further conversation that transforms what the builder thought the project was. The zigzag is the mechanism; AI changes its tempo without changing its structure.
In The You On AI Field Guide
Sawyer developed the zigzag from extensive fieldwork with jazz ensembles,