Working together when apart
Tom and I just returned from a week in Amsterdam. Fill in your Red Light district joke of choice, as we've heard them all, but we were there for a few days of face-to-face meetings with our Dutch partners in Werck. Amsterdam may be my favorite city in the world. With each visit I appreciate the simplicity, hospitality and beauty even more. There's something elegantly utilitarian in commuting each day to work on your no-frills black bike.
While we spent the majority of our time at Werck HQ discussing Checkout and the exciting product changes forthcoming (shameless tease), we also dedicated time to analyzing the partnership and how we work together. It's interesting. In an ever-connected world, with a wealth of technological tools readily available, it still comes down to sitting across a table and exchanging ideas.
I think I speak for all involved when I say Acclivity's relationship with Sofa is ideal. We're fortunate, lucky even, to have teamed up with a group of guys we not only respect, but we enjoy (as evidenced by the week's collective bar tab). And when we're all in the same room, which happens about twice/year, there is a consistent, productive exchange of ideas.
But that said, it's not easy to collaborate across an ocean and time zones with countless projects and tasks begging for attention. We have weekly meetings over Skype with status reports and agendas disseminated the night before. We rely on iChat for ad hoc one-on-one conversations. And we'll even go old school and hop on the phone, if need be. But with all that, it's still not the same as being in the same office, where so much of what's accomplished happens at the proverbial water cooler (in this case a deftly operated, top-of-the-line Espresso maker). So, what's the solution?
We've pushed for more in-person meetings (nobody has to twist their arm to come to NYC or ours to go Amsterdam). Placed more pressure on ourselves to engage in even more iChats. And I'll report back on our progress, but I find it at once ironic and frustrating. In a supposedly Flat World where globalization has erased boundaries, I can't help but feel we could do more if not for the distance.