Expectations versus Reality: Week 2 at Made by Many
Graduating high school seniors expect a liberating, parent-free college experience. They ignore the fact that their workload, activities, tuition-paying jobs can be far more restricting than a parent ever was. Often fitness beginners expect a straight path to their fitness goals. What they don’t know about is the plateaus and the ups and downs of a fitness journey. All new experiences come with expectations and most expectations turn out different than reality. My experience thus far with made by many is no different. Here’s five surprises MxM had in store for me.
1) Everything would be done virtually.
In my time at MxM, I’ve used a handful of technologies, some of which I’ve never heard of before. Zenefits, Slack, Sketch, Keynotes, and Medium are all new tools for me. However, I didn’t completely hit the mark. A lot of our work is done by hand. We had a sketching workshop to understand the process of prototyping. After playing X for Y, a game used for brainstorming new start-up ideas, we hand-sketched out the ideas we came up with.
2) We would come in, come up with “the next big thing,” and execute it to perfection.
When we finally settled on pursuing our own idea instead of a partnership, I assumed the process would be straight forward. My assumptions were wrong. The idea creation process involves a lot of meetings, creativity, objective evaluation, and sticky notes.
3) The big boss would be an inaccessible figure we only ever hear about. Sort of like the Wizard of Oz.
This is the farthest thing from the truth. Stuart has been sitting two desks away every day. He’s been running our idea workshops. He’s been really involved in the process. He even took us out to lunch today. His approach to the creative process is Wizard of Oz legendary, except he’s not hiding behind a curtain.
4) I’d be making coffee runs for the office every day.
As happy as I’d be to pick up coffee for the coworkers, it’s not something I’ve done yet. In fact, small, meaningless errands have not been a part of my itinerary. The work I’m doing is actually exciting and stimulating and coffee runs are pleasure, not business.
5) It’d be all business until the clock strikes 6PM.
Speaking of business, we take breaks. During the day, everyone isn’t glued to their seats for 8 hours straight. We chat, we laugh, and we take walks sometimes. I even downloaded COD4 earlier this week, a recommendation from my coworkers to join in on their occassional game
