Methodology: Being part of a Startup team for 4 days

There is no better way to observe things than getting in someone other’s shoes. Learning things from the inside is fascinating and brings a wonderful outcome. The object of observation was a Startup for Music concerts, called Gigalize. Our Method consisted of three parts. First of all Interviews: In order to collect our data we conducted a qualitative research by interviewing the CEO, the business developer, the communication manager, the artist relations manager , the developer-designer and the programmer — designer. Each interview lasted 45 minutes and offered us great aspects. The second part is: Meeting in the team’s workplace. Visiting their incubator ( Orange Grove — of the Dutch Embassy ) gave us the change to see them work on a daily basis, observing their behavior, their collaboration, as well as their working method. The third and last part of our method -and the most interesting of all- is: Getting in their shoes. We unofficially became assistants of each member of the team for 4 days. We interacted with each other for 2 hours per day and with their users as well. We asked questions continually and we kept notes on every single thing that captured our attention about the way each member of the above works. It was pretty exciting and let us realize how necessary collaboration and “chemistry” between the team’s members is. If one of the members does not work effectively, the whole project could be at stake. On the contrary, if there is a coordinated effort towards the same goal amazing results could be achieved. Therefore, the observation of Gigalize was undoubtedly a valuable experience for our future career.