February – August 2019
TEAM BUILDING / ENVISIONING
In the early, exploratory phase of research and development between February and August 2019, the team began researching the various media available in terms of opportunities, challenges, risks, budget considerations, and big picture implications of the sort of approach they had in mind.
During this period some team members started learning new tools (e.g. Animation pipelines for mobile are very different to film) and programming languages (e.g. C-sharp). The team also researched current and emerging technologies (e.g. beacons versus cloud anchor versus fantasmo) and built their first lo-fi (cardboard/wireframe) prototypes.
Our second tip: Diversity promotes creativity.
Since multiple perspectives help to promote new thinking, diversity is important, if not always easy. Did you know, psychologists argue that most of us are unconsciously racist, even if we might be horrified to discover this (Are you ready to take the test?). Perhaps that helps to explain why, ‘birds of a feather flock together’, as the saying goes? But what does that imply about working effectively with different groups?
Let’s just say it pays to be informed (our third tip):
This video conference paper produced by USW Research Fellows Dr. Helen Davies and Dr. Bronwin Patrickson entitled “Innovation Through Collaborative Audience Research” (presented virtually at the Annual 2020 conference for the International Association for Media and Communication Researchers) outlines the sorts of benefits and challenges that have been repeatedly identified in University-Industry collaborations, as well as the best workarounds.
Read more in-depth analysis of the ways that these sorts of issues were managed: Is This Even Possible? Co-Creating University and Industry Learnings
Creative Product Lead
Jamie Innes
Programme Lead
Richard Saggers
Making connections is only part of the challenge of working together.
Productive teams make projects come to life with networked inspiration, combined problem solving capacities and the propulsion of laughter, as much as intensity. This is the team that is more than the sum of its parts.
But how to create this sort of team?
Our top tip: Don’t underestimate the importance of this challenge!
Ultimately, good team work demands proactive management. Early in the R&D project, the team from Potato convinced the new consortium that rather than manage this project ad hoc as a side venture, they should instead hire dedicated, professional managers: Jamie Innes, the creative product lead and Richard Saggers the newly appointed project manager, come Managing Director.
Upon his appointment, Saggers similarly encouraged the Consortium to build a combined creative business entity.
“So rather than having three different companies working together… my concern was the way it was set up with each partner … at the end of the project there would be nothing to invest in. Each partner would have separate skill sets, but there wouldn't be a central resource. So, I looked at the overall partner agreement. I felt that wasn't fit for purpose, and recommended setting up a joint venture business, which we then did… So effectively Fictioneers has a future value and worth and each of the partners have an equal investment in that, an equal 3rd split, which will reflect their ongoing responsibilities.”
Richard Saggers
Fictioneers are the only Audience of the Future Demonstrator group to commit to such a unified approach, and it proved to be a valuable decision, helping to build a unified innovation culture and identity.
