Notes on collaboration
I have spent a considerable amount of time working with different people. While few worked others didn't. So I feel a collaboration gone wrong has more than one consequences.
I personally like to collaborate with new people for multiple reasons. That aside, in design, collaboration happens often.
Few recent failed collaborative attempts has led me to re-access my understanding of what it is and how to work in it. Aside from personal experience, I have also referred to http://www.openendedgroup.com/writings/creativeCollaboration.html and https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/creative-collaboration/id608540812?mt=11. These are two very nice pieces on collaboration by the OpenEndedGroup.
They have referred to the working strategies of Mrece Cunningham and John Cage among others. Cage/Cunningham worked independently without each other's supervision and would bring the final piece towards the end, thus leading to some unexpected works.
In my experience, I have come across people who are still learning in their career. So working independently doesn't really work. I have sometimes worked as a facilitator, others times as a teammate. The response has been mixed.
I think when a member starts depending or lacks focus/motivation, means that something has to be done...soon. Ideally it would be nice to have each other's back, but often times it doesn't happen. So one clear way out is that before work begins, certain aspects are cleared.
> Does the team require a facilitator? If yes then who, why, and what all are the expectations from the facilitator.
> Is there a common vision/idea? Then mark the key points/ areas where each other's work can overlap, so everyone knows where to stop, whom to share/meet etc.
> Preferred mode of communication and time. This is really important. I feel that the arrival of free messaging services like Whatsapp has led people to use them indiscriminately for anything and anyone. Though there could be exceptions, always. But I feel that its good to have a general rule of thumb.
> Most importantly: Get people to work beforehand before you meet up. So everyone gets to think what and how they want to approach a project. It also makes communication easy.
All that said, I also know that people device brainstorming sessions, games, cues cards etc to work together. I feel that working with people is very organic. Maybe its my lack of understanding, but such brainstorming sessions are often viewed as an alien device. It has often been resisted than excepted. But I also think that these works especially when there are clear group hierarchy/leader. These are effective and democratic in such case.
All said, each collaborative experience will be different. Sometimes when nothing works, just stay positive and don't take anything personally :)
