I wrote a post introducing Lucy, Doug and Aaron to the team a little while ago and promised updates. So here is a quick one from Lucy:

“I came on board a month or so ago to help out as a project manager during a particularly busy period for Outlandish. I’ve been doing PM work already over at InFact Digital Co-operative, but jumped at the opportunity to do so in a more defined role, since I’m usually trying to juggle it with development work as well. We’ve learnt a ton from Outlandish already, and this seemed like a great chance to learn more, as well as be of service  Actually, I haven’t done that much PM work since!

However, I definitely feel like I’ve learnt a lot! Some things I’ve found interesting and challenging:

  • There’s a much bigger Slack presence at Outlandish. In some ways I’m enjoying this a lot, and seeing that it’s really possible to create a culture and bond with people remotely. Some people are truly inspiring in their commitment to this, and it’s encouraged me to get involved too, which means I’ve spoken to people who I haven’t actually worked directly with. On the other hand, it’s harder to focus and I think does contribute a little to a general sense of anxiety, at least for me. How can we encourage online community building whilst allowing everyone the space and time needed for focussed work?
  • At InFact there are only 3 core members, and we’re all super close. This is wonderful   but I’ve always been slightly cautious or worried that this couldn’t be expanded. What I’ve enjoyed experiencing at Outlandish is that it’s possible to create this kind of team on a larger scale as well and with different types of members.
  • I’ve learnt about the prime directive   Don’t get me wrong, I’d heard the philosophy before. But Outlandish is the first place where I literally heard the phrase “the prime directive” bandied about. Now that I’ve realised it’s not referring to some undercover mission, I think it’s pretty cool that this concept has an active presence in our day to day work.
  • I wrote some OKRs! I love that this is a cultural norm, and am super grateful to Amil for working with me to create them. However, actually progressing on them I think I would find hard without a kind of internal task management system. Luckily, we’ve created a v. sexy system for ourselves at InFact so I’m going to use that to allow me to make progress. Hopefully, I’ll share this with the Outlandish lot and then they can learn something from us too…Collaboration! What a dream!”

Its been fantastic to have Lucy on board with us, working out ways Outlandish and InFact could collaborate more.