Small Group → Large Group Growing Pains

If you have followed what have become my far rarer Medium posts since the beginning of 2017, you will know that as part of one of my classes for my grad program, we are running the class like a startup. Well, we have now reached the point of an actual startup — we have transitioned from the insulated joyful working environment of small groups to the far more difficult and somewhat chaotic whole-class-as-a-startup formation.

And yes, there are growing pains.

Everyone is coming into this from a different place and with a different perspective. We all worked hard over the course of the semester, developing our small group ideas for products that each group became incredibly invested in. We all believed in our ideas. We were all married to them and felt that we understood more than any outsiders could.

And then, my group’s concept was chosen.

Who would have thought? Well, we thought our idea was the best, but so was the case with every other group in regards to their own ideas.

And here is what we have found out: it’s hard to give your idea to a bigger group. A bigger group that hasn’t worked on it every day for over two months. A bigger group that hasn’t been in the depths of researching and prototyping and doing interviews. A bigger group that might have listened to your presentations but didn’t live those presentations.

There’s also the sheer numbers: we started as 4, and now we’re 14. That’s a lot of cats to herd. How do you get everyone on the same page and with the same vision? How do you make everyone accountable to the same goal?

We have a month to figure that out. And in that time, we will no doubt have some more growing pains. And hopefully we will have some successes too.