Constant State of Beta
Kudos to Mr. Cam Cook for spotting this quote of the day from cnet. While writing a piece for this site not yet edited by companion-blogger Khooby, it occured to me the struggle with "those people" we face in churches or other organizations is tied into how serious they think we are with our plans. Are we in a test phase, or a has the plan gone gold? In other words, are you wooing an idea, or are you married to it?
If we approach changes in church calendars as experiments or alpha/beta tests, the opportunity for others to contribute still exists. If we are at a stage where it is a yes or no to our particularly narrow vision, then less people will support it because less people are contributing.
Is it ok to quash crazy ideas? Of course. Listening to those crazy ideas, thanking the giver of such ideas for helping you think further about what your vision is and then rearticulating how the exact idea won't really work for x number of reasons, is usually adequate to count that crazy visionary a supporter of your dream.
At all turns, avoid the pitfall of receiving crazy ideas in the presence of a large group of decision-makers. Know and prepare in advance with people who you suspect will offer ideas, no matter how helpful, before presenting to a larger group. Ultimately, this allows you to avoid the us vs. them fiasco of "They didn't like what I wanted to do."
If we approach changes in church calendars as experiments or alpha/beta tests, the opportunity for others to contribute still exists. If we are at a stage where it is a yes or no to our particularly narrow vision, then less people will support it because less people are contributing.
Is it ok to quash crazy ideas? Of course. Listening to those crazy ideas, thanking the giver of such ideas for helping you think further about what your vision is and then rearticulating how the exact idea won't really work for x number of reasons, is usually adequate to count that crazy visionary a supporter of your dream.
At all turns, avoid the pitfall of receiving crazy ideas in the presence of a large group of decision-makers. Know and prepare in advance with people who you suspect will offer ideas, no matter how helpful, before presenting to a larger group. Ultimately, this allows you to avoid the us vs. them fiasco of "They didn't like what I wanted to do."
posted by LandShark/Steve at 3:56 PM
2 Comments:
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I'm in full agreement on organization and having a fully defined plan of what you are doing and why.
Disorganization in other people's ideas was probably the genesis for my post here originally, so I could not agree more that disorganization is a killer.
In my brief re-scan of the original article, I think my "constant state of beta" idea is mainly a form of marketing to help dispel those Theys who don't want to try anything new, but might let you try if it's just an "experiment".
Who cares that Tribe has been going on for four years now? It's still in an experimental stage.
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