Communicating Across Continents
One of the first hurdles of any collaborative effort is establishing the means and modes of communication. This task is no small matter. The approach taken must play to the collaborators' strengths, ensure an uninterrupted flow of ideas, and - somehow - do this without becoming a burden.
In certain ways, the internet has made things easier by making more modes of contact readily available. At the same time, it has complicated matters by raising new questions about personal limits regarding the amount, quality, and timing of interactions.
So, how does one get this right? I've broken down the approach Toby, Imogen, and I have taken in hopes of allowing you to pull a tip or two from our cross-continent conversations.
GROUP COMMUNICATION
Since gathering in a room to brainstorm and plan was simply not an option for us, finding a way to have a productive conversation between three people on three continents was vital.
Our initial conversation started in a Facebook chat. It was easy, instant, and conducive to a conversational flow that resembled an actual meeting. Despite these benefits, we quickly moved to an email thread to have greater formatting control and a slightly more formal setting. Though we arguably lost out on a bit of flow, the email format forced us to organize our thoughts into coherent blocks of text that delved into issues at depth - something that was invaluable for working out the complex details surrounding this multifaceted project.
While this shift addressed the quality of interactions, it did little to address quantity - our email thread was well into the hundreds before we even sent the application that made this project possible! That is a lot of emails to read, write, load, and process. It was overwhelming for both people and technology (have you ever tried loading a 100+ email thread on a cell phone?).
One partial solution was to have a 'reset' every once in a while and simply start a new thread. Though this act did not decrease the number of emails, it helped reduce the psychological burden of the thread while improving load times on mobile devices.
A related solution was to have focused side threads that only involved two people. Without decreasing the total number of emails, this approach had a tremendously positive impact by unburdening uninvolved individuals (i.e. it decreased the number of emails seen by any one individual). An additional benefit was the narrowing of conversation topics on small actionable items (if things got too broad, they would need to return to the group thread). This combination of effects allowed us to curb email fatigue and avoid unintentionally reinforcing email avoidance (i.e. the why-should-I-read-it-if-it-doesn't-involve-me? syndrome).
ONE-ON-ONE COMMUNICATION
Side threads bring us to the topic of one-on-one conversations. Though getting this right is considerably easier than getting group communication right, there are still a few things to consider when interacting online in a professional setting - even when it is with friends.
This topic can be summed up in eleven words: the right means for the right info in the right mode. (This probably applies to group communication as well; though, the level of flexibility there may be more limited.)
Let's unpack that.
Right info: a focused statement that addresses only the topic at hand without tangents or unnecessary details, just the bare minimum of what is necessary to consider and resolve the issue fully. To be clear, this does not imply skipping important information for the sake of brevity. It means conveying ideas precisely so that everything important can be conveyed briefly enough to be read, understood, and resolved without undue burden. (This is probably the most difficult one for me as my mind wanders constantly!)
Right means: the idea that different types of information deserve different kinds of delivery. Need a quick one-word answer for a quick few-word question? A messenger service (text, Facebook, WhatsApp, etc.) might be the way to go. It's speedy, informal, and can be handled with relatively little cognitive load (i.e. it's less likely to feel like work). Imogen, Toby, and I frequently use this to confirm Skype times and give a quick updates. For more substantial communications, I can't recommend email threads enough. You can search them, format them for easy scanning, and archive them for future reference (this has been a life saver for us!). It most definitely feels like work, but in this case, that is an asset.
Right mode: the belief that different types of information fare better in different packages. To put it a different way, if you can show it, show it; if I need to hear it, let me hear it. This notion falls under the umbrella of brevity; there is no need to spend paragraphs describing what an audio clip or a picture can make apparent in a few seconds. Alternately, there is no reason to shy away from a good bit of text or a lengthy discussion if that is what is necessary - it's all about getting the match right. (As an example: In our discussions about the concert program, Toby and I spent a lot of time discussing the rationale behind programming certain pieces in a certain order; that said, when it came time for him to propose a piece I didn't know, he simply sent me a link to the recording.)
Having spent the bulk of this text discussing ways to send information, it seems appropriate to leave off with a thought about the other side of the interaction. The only thing to say here is "receive with care" - and with the intention to fully understand the view from the perspective of the other. Everything else will follow.
