Week three seemed to fly by. Finishing project one was good, and I felt the whole experience was enriching, from the beginning ideas to critiques, I thought my group worked really well together.
It was good to see and critique other solutions to the same problem. There are so many possibilities. It was easy to see where we can get sidetracked or out of scope because of one good idea that sounds so cool – but may not be applicable to the problem at hand. At that point I guess you make a choice as to whether it is so differentiating that you re-define the problem to incorporate the idea???
Collaboration in this class can be much different than my experience at work. At work I am the manager of the product and I am ultimately responsible for its success or failure. I am accountable to my manager who is then accountable to the shareholders, so there are definitely times when a decision must be made that is not a group decision. Sometimes it can be a tightrope wire walk between being creative and staying on task. I think the most important asset we have as a software company is our time. What do we want to spend FTE salary hours on that will really reach out to the clients, drive sales and increase customer retention.
Ok, so I sort of got off track, but my point is that in this class, while we have a facilitator, we are required to come to a consensus using the voting techniques. It is NICE not to have to be the manager on these projects and know that we are all working together to put the most into our designs. Of course, I have been managing a product for quite a few years now, so I get to work on toning down the ‘must keep on track’ mentality and ride in Zen Dog’s boat. It is a good change of pace.
Yesterday my Project two meetings began – that is what spawned these thoughts for me….I am excited to see where we end up next Monday. I think we are heading in a good direction.
See you downstream!
