Otsw Communties

Here in the great plains of the business world, we are witnessing individuals in the throes of the delicate dance required to form a team. This team has come together for the single purpose of preparing for the annual gathering of customers. Competition for resources is fierce, fail and they may not make it through to the rainy season. While the customer event has survived unchanged for decades, the team has bravely decided to leave behind the albatross of email, and plan the event using a community. While hesitant at first the team begins to organize around their common goal. Here, in this time lapse photography, we can see how the team has gathered all the resources within the community. They upload files, they create wiki pages, deliberate and discuss pivotal issues. Complex tasks are rarely achieved on the first attempt but the community has given the team an revolutionary advantage - each can use his or her own strengths to iterate and improve on each other's work. In the past, teams found it very difficult to work on things like presentations together. After a hard day of emailing round after round of files, many modern workers spend quiet evenings envying their ancestors, who merely had to plow fields under the hot sun. But within the safe confines of the team's community, they can deliberate, discuss and finally create a presentation of unrivaled glory. Just as a feeling of calm falls over the team, a core member is pulled away to work on an urgent project. In an effort to maintain their dominance, they entice an another colleague to join. This is a turn in fortunes few can survive. And this is where we see the true advantage of a community. The new member can acclimatize himself with the group's work at speed that was thought of as impossible before this. Even without knowing the team's complex social structure, he can simply a post question and it's answered. The departing member has wisely stored all of her work, not on her laptop - which later is tragically left behind in a taxicab - but within the community. The gathering has begun.This year's success is assured. And next year, when the cycle must begin again, the team will have an ever greater chance of survival. All of their knowledge and resources remain captured within the community, so new members can join, while others can move on to even greater adventures.