What I struggle with is whether there is a point of diminishing return, so to speak. It would seem that under too many (internalized) constraints, creativity might be stifled.
Yes, you need an escape hatch when you go too far afield and are over-constrained. I only commit to negative capability when I'm in the ideation phase because I find there's always an escape hatch there. Before I begin spending expensive kinds of effort, I'll apply judgement. It's a lot harder to pull the plug when you've sunk a lot of cost.
which only really works if everyone involved suspends judgement
Yes, definitely. Even I struggle with it sometimes and I'll excuse myself from replying when I don't have the patience to diffuse my judgement. What's most important to me is that the folks involved accept the premise, and are capable of suspending judgement.1
Footnotes
To think one's negativity is of special value, despite negativity being abundant in relative terms, is to be the kind of asshole that also lacks insight. ↩
Footnotes