Something we’ve been asked is how do we communicate and stay organized during the hunt.
For us it all starts in the weeks leading up to the hunt. That’s when we discuss recruitment if we need new people, make sure everyone understands our approach to the list and generally getting to know each other/new people and identifying any known issues (like someone may have to disappear for a couple of days to deal with work etc). We make sure everyone has chance to practice using our systems (last year Trello, previously spreadsheets) and we are chatting constantly on Slack and via video hangouts). That way we are confident everyone is ready to go at list drop and we have anticipated any foreseeable problems.
During the hunt we talk all the time on Slack and have a number of different channels we use to keep things organised. This helps us keep track of urgent questions, one’s we can address later, anything we want the team to comment on before submitting (which photo is best, that kind of thing), copies of final submissions so they can easily be found. We also close down some of the fun things we use between hunts so they are not a distraction.
On Trello/spreadsheet we keep track of what’s been claimed, by whom, whether it’s in progress, completed, submitted, needs editing help, etc. It’s a very live and interactive document during the hunt.
We also continue having hangouts. If we were around and wanted to do so we could leap on a chat or call one ourselves if we needed a chat. Sometimes there’d be a couple of people on, sometimes lots. For us these were a nice way to take a moment to relax and have a chat during such a chaotic week. We found having those moments to chill, support each other and laugh about our failures together were really helpful. Gish week gets intense and when people are tired tempers become a bit frayed even amongst the best of friends and we find keeping talking works well for us. It means no-one is left stressing out by themselves if they don’t want to be, and no-one loses sight of other people’s feelings. It acts as a reminder that the whole team is going through the same things and stops tensions building up. The Captains check in regularly to make sure team is feeling okay and to give encouragement.
In a nutshell that’s how we do things; having systems, making sure everyone understands them and can use them, and talking to each other.
