/futures feb 16 '17The Futures atmosphere, somewhat ironically, has been the atmosphere that has been least effective at managing its time. We are a process-oriented team, and as Philadelphia Assembled has ramped up into a production-oriented focus, we’ve found ourselves a little lost. Uncomfortable laughter while trying to remain professional is a frequent soundtrack to our meetings.
With many projects, the idea is that there is a project timeline, and each person involved in the project does their work according to the timeline, and the work gets completed and the project continues to move along. But with an operation of people who half-live in the future - where idea-sketches have more truth than physicality - some participating as volunteers, and others with little project management experience, we have a different way of working.
It feels like treasure hunting through the past every time we go to get things done. Someone asks, “What has already been done?” We look through documents on the Google Drive and find them. We look through past communications and figure out where we are with our collaborators. If someone says something notable and important for planning, we note it down to be found as a result of a future treasure hunting endeavor. Plans build upon themselves until, hopefully, eventually, they cross the threshold between idea and reality.
It’s the role of the editors in this project, I suppose, to be the keepers of the treasure hoard, and to keep track of how far along each thing is from completion and to shepherd things along, as best they can, to completion (even when the idea of completion itself is being called into question).