Thread by @conspiracyhu

Okay so this is a tough one because it depend on a lot of factors, but since we probably can't get to TDF or talk an hour length about this, here's a few tips:

(THREAD-ish)

https://twitter.com/FMS_Cat/status/1027023054084296704

1/ COMMON GOAL

Making sure that your ambition matches the one with whoever you're working with saves you from disagreements down the line. If you're working towards the same result, it helps encouraging the other to do cool things.

Note that "result" doesn't have to be "we want to win" (though for us that was certainly part of it), but "we want to make a cool demo" or "we want to make something we're proud of", although it's important to have a common idea what that "something" is.

2/ FAMILIARITY

All of us in CNS were good friends for a year or two before we embarked on our joint effort. This made sure we already knew each other to know what we like, what we want, how we work in good times or bad times or under pressure.

Being friends helped us not just with having a shorthand when it came to communication, but the first time we talked about what we wanted CNS to be as a group, we knew we were all on the same page, and later on it helped us settle disagreements.

3/ CAPABILITIES

Knowing what each individual in the project was capable of when they give it their best helped us set a goal that was realistic but also ambitious. We were aiming higher than what we normally did, but we also knew all of us would give 110% for the others.

4/ RESPECT

Because we knew what the others could and couldn't, all of us stayed in our lanes and assumed that the other person is doing what they're doing because they knew best. No one was expendable, and we made sure each of their decisions counted as much as ours did.

Because how the economy of content is nowadays, there's a tendency to just throw your hands up and do everything yourself. Sometimes that's the only way. But you should always be open to allow someone better to work with you, even if it means you have to give up some control.

5/ TAGTEAMING

This is the best part. The idea that there are people working in parallel on distinct sections of the same project is a fantastic feeling.

Every day you can wake up to something really cool that was just added to the same thing you've been working on.

If you're in a creative block, the motivation of someone else doing a great job FOR YOUR PROJECT can slingshot you out of it. To this day, when we see one or more of us having a block in the process, the rest try and work a bit more so we can all get inspired.

6/ FRIENDSHIP

We were familiar and loose friends before CNS. The process of working together in secret on something awesome also meant that we were able to open up a bit more to each other and become even closer friends.

In a way, it's been self-inductive - the more we worked together, the better friends we became, but the better friends we became, the better work we wanted to put in for each other, and the safer we felt perhaps disagreeing or even failing in our little secret circle.

EPILOGUE/

It's hard to summarize because none of this was conscious; all of this just sorta "happened" to us, but in the end it all boiled down to us wanting to do the same cool things and finding other people who wanna do the same.

You should too.

[come to @functiondemo pls]