On Vision

Before you can start a project you have to know what's there or what has been there.  You are looking for information about the past. You are looking for reasons. These are the smaller details, the forms in the landscape, the rituals, the directions and the positions. Often there are the things you cannot see but only feel. Go out and search for the stories and the feeling. These are the things of the land.
Almost immediately the other questions follow. How can I get there, is it clean, is it safe. In what kind of area is it? Who's the architect, what's the quality? What other projects are there. All these logical questions have to be answered. And if there has been a project before, what went wrong, why did things not work. Which documents are there, where can I find them? This is all the knowledge that you need; all the answers have to be given. These are the things of the factory.
And then it is time to do something yourself, here is where your creativity comes in. All these things can only lead to an answer if you add creativity to them. Think about it, talk with others, analysis and vision that's where it's all about now.
Don't worry; it takes time before the strong vision is there. After a first session you have something but it's not complete. You have to do some testing first. It can even take some years before the real vision is there.
But when you work real hard on it you will get there: Vision.
But watch out: vision is not a complex story. You have to be able to tell it to a six-year-old child and your 85 years old grandmother. And they have to understand it. That's a real vision.
You need the vision first and after that you discuss the criteria that you need to bring your project forward. These are the measurable factors that you use in answering the normal questions like, what do we want, how do we get there. What do I do, how do I create value. If you know that it starts to get easier (but never really easy) to decide what your next steps will be: the future.