Today's focus was mainly on clarifying the objectives of the project -- discussing exactly what we were trying to say and what we want to accomplish through this project, and how we plan to accomplish these goals laid out in the proposal. Another task we attempted to sort out was the schedule for the rest of the semester. We attempted to break down the rest of the remaining time into group deadlines (for the whole class) as well as attempting to divvy up tasks for everything into smaller groups with their own deadlines. At this point, everything feels somewhat intangible -- we all recognize the project as a good idea, and vaguely what we want to accomplish, but don't have enough of a concrete vision. We set up a very rough (and likely to change) schedule, since the deadline is only about a month away and things need to get started, and start getting done.
So What?
Since the project was somewhat unfocused, it became crucial to boil down the big picture into a more graspable message of what we want to say with this project: "It is easy, accessible, inexpensive, practical, beneficial, and fun to utilize local food options." We also set forth to narrow our target audience, deciding to focus on "those who may have heard about the terms, ideas, or options of eating local, but are not quite sure what it is all about or why it is worth practicing/exploring." It is necessary to be able to sum up the message or point you want to make with your project in one or two sentences, in order to be able to quickly communicate the ideas to individual/groups you want to become partners, sponsors, donors, publishers, promoters, or simply to just come to your event. Being able to precisely pinpoint your target audience allows you to plan how to present your message -- you would plan differently if you were presenting to a group of uninitiated newbies versus experienced experts.
Even if uncertain about all the facets this project will entail, it is imperative to create a schedule first thing. This way, no deadlines will unknowingly get missed and you can plan for how long things will take (such as when things need to get to the printers, or by when you need to submit press releases in order to get them published in magazines/newspapers/online). By dividing into groups, we are able to split up tasks into more manageable chunks then everyone trying to accomplish everything at once (not possible) or some individuals becoming overwhelmed with responsibilities and others slacking or having nothing to do. As smaller groups, we were able to focus on individual tasks and deadlines of the group and be able to work on the tasks more efficiently.
Now What?
Breaking the tasks among different groups is very applicable to future processes. Since many collaborative efforts in the future will involve different people with different skills and backgrounds, it is most likely that tasks will be distributed according to skillsets and interests, in order to get things done efficiently and well. This gave us a chance to learn to work collaboratively in both a smaller group and a larger encompassing group, similar to how might happen in a working environment.
Noah also showed us a way of working with a schedule, especially if you don't know all the tasks that need to be planned out. Working backwards from the hard-fast dates (in our case, the date of the show), and judging the times things will take at the printers, or need to be submitted for press release publications, we were able to estimate how much time we would be able to work on things. This will obviously be a useful skill in the future; it can be difficult to organize and schedule deadlines -- this method lets us know which deadlines are immoveable, and which ones we can rearrange as needed. We can divide our time and attention to projects that will be the most complex or time-intensive or have solid deadlines, while still being aware of all other deadlines.
No comments:
Post a Comment