Photo Book: Five recommendations for successful collaboration

As self-driven creative careers become the norm, so does seeking the input of others in the industry in order to maximise success and learn to grow together

These days careers are becoming less conventional and more self-directed — especially for creatives. The requirements for skill as well as the milestones that we used to use to help us keep track of our progression have changed a lot, and because of that many creatives are diversifying their skill sets and trading their experience, by joining forces in collaborations.

Working together is not always and easy task. Sharing responsibilities requires sacrifice and compromise, and there are many factors to consider when it comes to choosing the right people to work with, well as making choices to delegate tasks effectively and appropriately. The collaborative process for Ruby and I as we worked together on the photo book project was no different. We had the perfect amount of discrepancy in skill set; I needed her to make sense of the photographic narrative, and she needed me to construct that literally for readers. But despite knowing our individual strengths and weaknesses from the beginning, there were a few things our collaboration taught us that we identified as being really important for success.

Here are five of our recommendations:

1. Collaborate on a project that will offer you the opportunity to learn about something new.

The most interesting component of a collaboration is having the opportunity to learn about something new. Ruby is a photographer and also a competitive cheerleader, which was what we were writing the photo book about. So understanding cheerleading and the nuances of the sport became a huge part of the learning component for me, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed and that drove me to ask questions to be able to interpret and share the sport accurately with our readers.

2. Communication is key.

Working with two people means double the skill — which is great—but it also means working with two schedules. Being sure to keep in touch with your collaborators as much as possible is key for making sure that you are on the same page at every stage of production. Doing this will also allow your ideas to flow and for you to be able to develop them together; as well as saving you a lot of time and confusion.

3. Honor each other’s skill sets.

Also known as ‘stay in your lane’; in every job, people have different roles, and that is so for a reason. Trying to keep that in mind while you are collaborating and being aware of stepping on each other’s toes will allow you both to do what you do best as you work together.

To relate this to Ruby and I; she re-wrote the entire copy about a week before deadline, causing a major last minute setback (which was also my fault — as I wasn’t clear about communicating the reasons for my edits as I made them). Observing your partner at work is important for you to be able to learn about their process and share parts of your own, but make sure you discuss your processes clearly also in terms of what that means for the requirements of everyone involved.

4. Early is on time

Time management is an important lesson for everyone to learn — especially creatives — whose work is usually driven independently and has a lot of moving parts to keep track of. Having double the resources, should also mean getting things done as early as possible, allowing ample time for troubleshooting, workshopping and in turn making use of the many possibilities. Ruby and I were definitely cutting it fine after our lack of communication lead to her rewriting the copy, so instead of fact checking and making minor edits, we ended up having to re-edit the whole thing again less than a week before deadline.

5. Keep trying again no matter how your first collaboration goes.

Working together can be hard, but in the event of a collaboration gone wrong don’t let the small stuff like perhaps choosing the wrong group to work with, or a topic that doesn’t quite suit you deter you from embarking on future collaborative ventures. Sometimes trial and error is all it takes to figure out how put together a well balanced team and that might be all you need to realise in order to be able to salvage that team work disaster.