Submission + - "Process" People vs. "Resource" People
davide marney writes: "You start an interesting new project, involving you and a handful of your friends and associates. The project initially starts out small, but it starts to catch on. Great! Now there are 10 people who all need to start coordinating their work. Time to get organized!
The geek in the group says, "hey, I can set up a Google Site and we can manage our project there. It has a place for documents, a calendar, discussion threads, everything." A few people nod their heads; yeah, they've used the web before. The rest of the group is thinking to themselves, "ok, whatever, why are we creating this whole web site just for this little, tiny project; but, go along to get along, I guess."
Half the group starts putting things into the web site. The other half ignores it completely. Things quickly start breaking down.
"Did you get my email telling you we've changed our meeting space?"
"What? Did you post that on the web?"
"No, I don't know how to use the web site."
"Well, OK, let me post that for you so the rest of the group will see it."
"Oh, no need, I'll just email everyone."
"Well, not everyone reads email; you better let me put it up for you."
. . . . . . .
A classic case of low efficiency caused by a clash of operational styles: is group work done as a series of individually-managed tasks in a personal process, or by collectively building up a common set of resources? Are you a "process" person or a "resource" person?
The geek in the group says, "hey, I can set up a Google Site and we can manage our project there. It has a place for documents, a calendar, discussion threads, everything." A few people nod their heads; yeah, they've used the web before. The rest of the group is thinking to themselves, "ok, whatever, why are we creating this whole web site just for this little, tiny project; but, go along to get along, I guess."
Half the group starts putting things into the web site. The other half ignores it completely. Things quickly start breaking down.
"Did you get my email telling you we've changed our meeting space?"
"What? Did you post that on the web?"
"No, I don't know how to use the web site."
"Well, OK, let me post that for you so the rest of the group will see it."
"Oh, no need, I'll just email everyone."
"Well, not everyone reads email; you better let me put it up for you."
. . . . . . .
A classic case of low efficiency caused by a clash of operational styles: is group work done as a series of individually-managed tasks in a personal process, or by collectively building up a common set of resources? Are you a "process" person or a "resource" person?
- Process Person:
- I am personally organized, but I don't expect anyone else to be
- I have my own, customized system for managing work
- I have my own, customized filing system
- I use it to store my own works
- I use it to store copies of other people's works, if they are important to my project
- I live and die by notifications (email, etc.), to do lists, and my personal calendar
- I am constantly updating my and other people's status
- Resource Person:
- I expect that everyone on the project is as organized as me
- There should be one, central place for everything important to a shared project, and everyone should use it.
- (Implied) There is a common process for managing work
- (Implied) There is a common filing system
- (Implied) There is a common event calendar
- I'll check the resource and synchronize my status when I need to
- Notifications are nice to have, but only for truly important changes to status or events