Collaboration
Over the past few months I’ve been thinking very seriously about one key topic; Collaboration. While we have worked with other many companies over years, they have mainly been some form of subcontracting. Recently, I’ve started to see some other avenues for collaboration that I never fully explored.
Strength from the sum of the parts
About six months ago we received an email from a very high profile iOS game development company. They asked us if we would be interested in submitting an initial proposal. I found out that there was only a short list of companies that they were reaching out to so, I figured we had a fair shot getting the project.
Make that I convinced myself that we had a shot at it when in reality we didn’t.
We prepared our proposal and got a response back that felt like we came across as incomplete. And you know what? They were right. We focussed on what had done in the past in the gaming industry (high quality but limited examples) and didn’t focus on how we would help them market and make their iOS game even more successful. We should have partnered with another company that specialized in marketing and got 50% of the project rather than stubbornly make it look like we could do it ourselves and get 0%.
Learning from other owners
In contrast to the above experience, we recently had the opportunity to collaborate with another digital studio. In the fall of 2014, I was in touch with the management of the legendary Canadian band Rush, and in fact had a meeting set up with them on a visit to Toronto. As I was sitting there, talking about the project and telling them all about Plank, I could only think of one thing; I know someone who would kill to be sitting here. In fact, he should be sitting here! So, I very quickly started to talk to the Rush team about this great studio in Philadelphia that is run by the biggest Rush fan I’ve ever met. It was clear to me that including Greg Hoy and Happy Cog in this project would be the best idea possible for the success of the project.
Could we have won this project ourselves? Probably, but having a true Rush fanatic involved ensured that our chances of getting it were basically, 100%. Could we have produced this project ourselves? Yes, but it would have never gotten the same attention to detail and passion that Happy Cog brought to the table. Most important to me personally, is that we got exposed to other people and other ways of working. I got to see a different management style and a different approach to executing projects which had made me a wiser leader and I think Plank, a better place. I think the proof that this collaboration was a success is clear thanks to Rush.com being shortlisted as the best Website Redesign of 2015.
So collaboration works, now what?
The Rush.com experience reinforced what’s been going through my head recently. I’m starting to see clearly how Plank could continue to pull this off and how we can keep our culture and independence and find ways to pull together varied teams to offer loose structures that would benefit our clients and their projects. I’ve learnt that if the organization’s respect each other, have clear roles set, and open lines of communication, then the success of the project is assured. If the leadership of the company demonstrate that each company is there to help the other, and have each other’s backs, then I can see collaboration working.
By infusing the idea of Collaboration into the DNA of Plank, we have already become a different and stronger company. I’m confident that it will change us and our culture in many interesting and original ways.
Related Articles:
http://cognition.happycog.com/article/coglaboration
https://medium.com/owner-campers/collaborate-like-a-craft-brewer-97ac524c0c6b
