Remember remember the month of November. I will. It’s been a busy one. And it’s not over yet.
This month we’ve had an above-average number of brilliant but meaty projects come our way. There’s been new pages to represent all 21 projects to emerge from the Summer of Student Innovation. We built a hub to showcase the resources and collections around World War One, made possible by Jisc, in the approach to the 2014 Centenary. We’re also working on pulling together all the information around our funding model. Plus we’re about to launch a bright new section (soon to be revealed) to support next year’s Digital Festival.
Why sprint?
While you can plan ahead and block out your diary, sometimes these complex and important tasks just don’t get the care and attention they deserve. It’s easy to overhear a conversation and get pulled into a new project or just find yourself attending to smaller, easier tasks.
So this month Rich and I have tried something new. I’m not much of a runner, but this month we’ve been sprinting*. For one day at a time, and one project at a time, we’ve locked ourselves away in a room with a whiteboard, plenty of pens and no distractions. We’ve then planned, built and completed a project in one fell swoop. We’ve been able to really focus on things like website aims and audience needs as well as exercise some sound quality control.
Although this method of working isn’t practical for everyone, we’ve found that with enough advance notice and the promise of a quality finished product as an incentive it’s been a winner.
This month – two sprints down, one to go. See you at the finish (Christmas?).
* Not to be confused with Agile™ (thanks Rich).
Image: Harlescott Junior School sports (courtesy of flickr.com/llgc).
3 replies on “Sprint finish”
It’s easy to overhear a conversation and get pulled into a new project or just find yourself attending to smaller, easier tasks.
So this month Rich and I have tried something new. I’m not much of a runner, but this month we’ve been sprinting*.
For one day at a time, and one project at a time, we’ve locked ourselves away in a room with a whiteboard, plenty of pens and no distractions. We’ve then planned, built and completed a project in one fell swoop.
We’ve been able to really focus on things like website aims and audience needs as well as exercise some sound quality control.
Although this method of working isn’t practical for everyone, we’ve found that with enough advance notice and the promise of a quality finished product as an incentive it’s been a winner.
There’s been new pages to represent all 21 projects to emerge from the Summer of Student Innovation.
We built a hub to showcase the resources and collections around World War One, made possible by Jisc, in the approach to the 2014 Centenary.
We’re also working on pulling together all the information around our funding model. Plus we’re about to launch a bright new section (soon to be revealed to support next years,
I have tried something new. I’m not much of a runner, but this month we’ve been sprinting.
For one day at a time, and one project at a time, we’ve locked ourselves away in a room with a whiteboard, plenty of pens and no distractions. We’ve then planned, built and completed a project in one fell swoop. We’ve been able to really focus on things like website aims and audience needs as well as exercise some sound quality control.
Although this method of working isn’t practical for everyone, we’ve found that with enough advance notice and the promise of a quality finished product as an incentive it’s been a winner.