Virtual Team Project – Week 3
In week 3, all members of Team 2 continued to be mobilised and focussed delivering a “First Draft” to the translation team by Monday 25 February and we learnt two major lessons about drafting instructions and the need to be flexible. As always, all the time mentions refer to the Irish/French time zones unless otherwise indicated.
A mobilised team
We are very lucky to have a team that is completely mobilised to reach our goals. Here are a few examples.
The 1st draft (not the “First Draft” above) was ready on Sunday 10 February afternoon and we were aiming for a 2nd draft by Sunday 17 February. On Monday 11, one writing team member said that she would start working on the 2nd draft to propose some writing guidelines. By Tuesday 12 evening, she had edited the whole draft and aggregated a PDF with the guidelines she used! Similarly, our graphics designer prepared the first round of graphics within two days based on the 1st draft. We were now a few days ahead of schedule with fully-functional guidelines and graphics to review. My hat’s off to them!
Starting each new discussion on WhatsApp, I can’t help but feel like I am barging into each team member’s life and asking him/her to drop everything at once. I hope that this is only an impression and I have told my teammates that I do not expect answers urgently. I only intend to start a discussion. Nevertheless, I haven’t had to wait long to get a question answered or a discussion started. This week, whenever someone made edits or provided feedback, the other team members – including the translation team – reviewed these edits and this feedback shortly after. When we discussed running the first test on the 2nd draft this week instead of waiting next week (more on that later), the tester made himself available immediately.
With our busy schedules, we did not maintain this pace all week, but everyone made sure to maintain good communication. For example, one team member informed me that his schedule this week made it hard for him to follow the WhatsApp group chat, but that he wanted to participate in the team’s efforts. We agreed that I would send him a private message whenever we needed his input. I understand his position because it mirrors my fears about using group chats to make decisions. I appreciate the fact that he was forthcoming about the situation.
To make discussions easier to follow, I thought of proposing set chat hours as suggested in “Take The Pulse Of Your Virtual Team”. However, based on my teammates’ schedules and the time differences, that would leave very short windows to discuss the project each week. Decision-making may be more efficient as a result, but it might be too efficient. We haven’t found a time window for live team meetings yet, and I am worried we would become Team Robot. Still, in an effort to facilitate communication and updates, I asked that all team members state all their feedback in the latest draft and graphics files. This is not as easy as it sounds with a WhatsApp group chat, but I expect this will be particularly helpful with the next round of edits.
Lessons in flexibility
When we decided on tasks and a schedule, we did not take enough time to do an in-depth analysis of the structure of our instructions. Of course, we discussed what we would cover in the instructions. We would talk about creating a WordPress account, creating a blog, writing/deleting a blog post, assigning categories, collaborating on a blog, etc. I think we all knew the importance of defining the structure of one’s content before writing, but we fell victim to the curse of knowledge. “Sure, the WordPress user interface is not very usable, but the process is straightforward.” It is, once you know it.
With everyone’s feedback, we realised that we had not covered all possibilities, like the availability of a Google sign-in option, the display of alternative languages depending on your location and device settings, the need to provide directions even if screenshots are available, the need for definitions for a “non-technical audience” (what are keywords for?). When we realised that I did not get the same starting page as the others because I am based in Ireland with a French device, we decided to run the first test on the draft this week instead of next week.
As mentioned earlier, the tester moved right away and we all benefitted from it. His feedback as a non-user of WordPress unlocked more feedback from the rest of the team. This was the Russian doll of feedbacks, with each new finding unleashing a new set of feedback and content to include. Fortunately, the 2nd draft had gone down to less than 700 words, so adding content won’t be a problem.
Conclusion
This past week showed once again that our team is responsive, that it takes initiative and that it is committed to reaching the team’s goals despite busy schedules. Maybe we should have prepared a detailed structure for our content as a first step, but I think that starting with a rough draft worked in our favour. Firstly, we were ahead a schedule thanks to this draft and it lifted our spirits and encouraged us to keep the pace. Secondly, the 2nd draft put the team in usability testing mode. It allowed everyone to participate in defining style guidelines and in structuring the content.
We are handing in the text for translation in one week. Until then, let’s see what new challenges await us.
References
Sookman, C. (2018) ‘Take The Pulse Of Your Virtual Team’, IAAP Edge, 21 July, available: https://edge.iaap-hq.org/2018/07/21/take-the-pulse-of-your-virtual-team/ [last access 17 February 2019].
The Budding Techcomm Blogger 