The Art of Social Strategy | Your Guide to thriving in the New Social Paradigm

10 Steps to Successful Co-Authoring

My doctoral journey is full of new experiences, each its own journey into learning. Most recently, and cause for my “silence” as of late: co-authoring scholarly work. Since completion of the piece, I have taken time to reflect on my own experience and hear the stories of others’.

To be clear, this was not the first time I have collaborated, and in many contexts I prefer working with others. What makes or breaks a co-authoring experience and why was this one so challenging? I came up with 10 factors to consider in the process that apply to co-authoring but also other forms of remote collaboration. Some of these may be obvious, but I felt it was important to provide a framework from the baseline.

1. Know your co-author. Take the time to learn about them. What are their interests, the skills that can contribute to the collaboration? What is their availability and their life beyond the paper to create context? This helps build trust and rapport as creates a baseline for understanding when “life happens.
2. Know yourself. Consider the same for yourself. What are your interests and skills? What you can contribute and your availability.
3. Shared purpose. Understand the motivation for each contributor; both for the piece and why and how the piece will be used.
4. Define roles and responsibilities at the start. These can be flexible as things come up in the process, but changes need to be agreed upon and clear.
5. Cloud Sharing. Determine where documents and supporting materials will be shared and accessed.
6. Regular meetings that are recorded with action items and deadlines. Just like any process, knowing the next steps helps maintain the flow.
7. Define a clear outline / framework to work from.
8. Know where you are at. Determine structure for tracking changes and saving versions.
9. Readability. Writing styles can vary greatly; grammar, vocabulary, use of metaphors and images. Determine the best way to have a shared voice that allows the styles to work together without disrupting the flow.
10. Humility on both parts. Let the shared purpose determine the editing process, not personal opinion. Respect others work, but also their revisions if they feed the shared purpose.

I welcome your thoughts on what makes or breaks a co-authoring experience for you.

Note: The two co-authoring projects completed recently are quite different. One is to be presented at a conference in July by my co-author and the other will provide the research component to a documentary film.

Interview on Research on Value of Visual Practice

RockTheMonkeyWebinar-Heidi-Forbes-Oste_1

130418 Rock the Monkey with Heidi Forbes Oste from Alphachimp Studio Inc. on Vimeo.

Thanks to Peter Durand at AlphaChimp Studios for a great opportunity to share my research with the visual practice community. The video (click on image to right) shows the visual recording he did while we spoke as well as being able to hear the interview. He breaks it down into sections in his blogpost, if you only want to hear specific parts.: http://alphachimpu.com/rock-the-monkey-visual-practice-with-heidi-forbes-oste/

I am glad to know that the research has been helpful so far to the community of practitioners. I hope it will help grow the field and the adoption of these practices in formal meetings and events. I am happy to share my research and further thoughts on the practice at events and meetings. If you have any research or materials that provide evidence, please share them. Together, we can strengthen the argument. Education will lead the visual practice from a “nice to have” to “must have” in the first stage of planning.

Research on the Value of Visual Practice

Click on the image to open the report on the research on the value of visual practice.

In the midst of my state of buried in books, research, work and (well) life, I was asked by a colleague where the link to my research on the value of visual practice could be accessed. The data was posted, but my process and finding were written up and I have posted the pdf here to share. It is a bit narrative on my process as that was the purpose of the submission, but there are some interesting resources and data.

In the 6 months between when this was submitted and now, there have been several great books and articles that further strengthen the argument for the visual practice. Additional research, mentioned in this paper, but submitted to a conference awaiting publishing mentions other forms, software-based in particular, as a complementary method.

My research with the visual practice, focusing on how it supports leadership and global teams using social technologies, continues as piece of my dissertation. Stay tuned for more in this space for that. I will post bits and pieces that seem worth sharing during the journey.

Strategic Visualisation in Action on #vine

Thanks @Ilspiration for letting me share this Strategic Visualisation session on the impact of innovation based incubators. This visualisation was based on a one hour session. The photos were captured by Atelje Lena. Great to work with such talent.

Future Leadership – Sketchnotes

This morning’s presentation was an interesting blend of transformational leadership, action versus reaction, connection and context. Maria Gustafsson of Actea Consulting spoke with passion from a perspective that I share on the application of leadership to all areas of our lives and organisations. I am looking forward to continuing our conversation on the applied use of social and transformational leadership theories into organisations. Theories are all fine and good, but without implimentation in practice they are just talk.

Innovation Incubator Impact a la Ilspiration

Always inspiring work with Ilspiration on a Strategic Visualisation session. Put two redheads together and magic happens.t

Behind the Scenes of a Digital Sketchnoter

Behind the scenes of digital sketchnoter @ForbesOste

I see you looking over my shoulder, as I capture the essence of the presenter’s point. I may not respond. Please do not take this as my being rude. I am listening with my eyes, my ears and my heart as I visualise the speaker’s intent. A moment of pause may provide a chance to add a flourish of colour or detail.

True to my beliefs there is much to be done even when the speaker makes their final closing remarks. Knowledge is power, sharing is powerful are the words I live by. So share I must. The job is not done until the capture is tagged for who, what, when and where. I can then set it free in the cyber wilderness. Hopefully if I have done my job well, it will find its way to those who are following these beautiful tagged beasts of knowledge.

You see me in the audience or your meeting, all hunched over and perhaps looking like I am taking a nap. Next time you will know that I am busy listening and creating another beautiful beast ready to be set free for all to share.

If you like what you see, please let me know how I can help you in your meeting or event. One on one strategic visualisations are my speciality, but I love to do events to practice my craft and learn about new things.

Great New Reads on Visual Practice

I have recently been asked to review a few books on and products for the visual practice, and each of them has been a delight to discover. I thought I would take a moment here to make note as people often ask me for recommended reads and tools in this area.

In Visual Leaders: New Tools for Visioning, Management, and Organization Change, David Sibbet shows his strength in putting visual work to practice in change management and visioning. Another great release to join his previous releases of visual meetings and visual teams. Great references and practice work for anyone in the field and others interested in putting visuals to practice.

Mike Rohde has produced a great Handbook to the art of Sketchnotes that provides an equally accessible resource for practitioners and those new to the art. A piece of art in itself, the book practices what it preaches as he delivers his content in sketchnote format. His invitation to others to share their styles and tips makes for both entertaining and enlightening perusal. Last but not least he invites you to play and learn within the pages. Enjoy!

Sketching at work by Martin Eppler is a great guide to practical application of visual tools for strategic collaboration and communication in business. He invites the reader to explore the world of visuals from diagrams to free hand drawing. The newest book, coming soon is fully interactive. We need to wait a bit for the English version, but it will be worth the wait if I know Martin.

Another brilliant release from the innovative mind of Jim Marggraff, the inventor behind Leapfrog educational tools. I got hooked on using the Livescribe at SxSW last year, but this latest is what I have been waiting for, WiFi. Livescribe 4 GB Sky Wi-Fi Smartpen (APX-00011) Like freeing your heels when telemarking skiing, this pen frees us from the cables that bind us synching handwritten notes with our digital lives beautifully.

While I am at it, I will mention my favorite tools for digital sketchnoting:

Brushes3 App for iPad and my faithful Bamboo Stylus and extra tips (a must when doing events – always carry a spare!)