Summary:
A look back :: The Future Independent Web: Visions Of What's To Come :: the process.
Read also:
:: Herding cats versus HVCT
Context
A look back :: The Future Independent Web: Visions Of What's To Come :: the process.
Herding Cats
A year before afterchaos was started; I was part of an attempt by another group to design a website. We had about ten members, scattered all over the world, who said that they had the time to help. I thought with my background of running a shop with multiple jobs going on that I had the ability to manage the project. Sadly, I was mistaken.
The truth is, I do not think anything in my past had ever come close to that experience, with the one exception of trying to herd cats. Content, and graphics promised never materialized. Egos clashed like storm clouds sending flashes of lightning down on a wind swept prairie town. The whole thing left a very bad taste in my mouth, and the website never did get finished by the team.
Horizontal Virtual Collaborative Team (HVCT)
When I first read about HVCT on the afterchaos website, I saw visions of my previous Herding Cats project pass through my head. I have this bad habit of always wanting to learn, and expand my knowledge base. So I wrote, and requested I be allowed to join the afterchaos project.
Last year the afterchaos group took on the task of designing a website for an INDEPENDENTS DAY event called, The Future Independent Web: Visions Of What's To Come. It was a chance to put the HVCT theory to a test.
In the beginning of the design phase there was a little bit of confusion as we each sought our place in the team. The front-end people did their first drafts. The back-end crew began planning how the event itself was going to work.
As part of the front-end, after the first draft was selected, we pooled our skills, and began using Instant Massager (IM) to refine the design. Between the two of us, one on a Mac, and the other on a PC, we had five browsers running, all changes were tested, and adjusted to achieve the best consistent overall layout. We developed two additional layouts, and presented the entire work back to the team. There the final design was selected, and the back-end team did their magic.
In a perfect world, we would have had the essays, and photos well in advance of the start date. This is not a perfect world. Even with all of the human elements tossed in, the event went off with very few problems. That is from my view point, and past experience with herding cats.
What It Took
After the event was over, we as a team took a look back over the process. In general it was expressed that the overall commitment of the members of the team was a key to getting everything done. By setting our egos on the sideline and joining in a collaborative spirit, we were able to go beyond what I think any of us thought was going to be possible. It did help that the teams had a great deal of expertise within their areas. The use of IM for real-time collaboration removed the obstacle of being in different parts of the world. There is also the fact that our team members are capable of giving, and receiving objective critiques.
As with any new process there were a few problems, most of which could be traced back to miscommunication. That in itself is not a flaw in the HTVC model that is just part of life.