When Collaboration Fails

First off, thank you to everyone who had contributed [comments/pledges] to our attempt to raise enough investment, in order to print a famous engineers Top Trumps© style deck of cards.

Hopefully by now, you will all have seen your pledges returned via pay-pal.

Once the time had elapsed, and the project closed, we decided set aside some time to take a close look at why we may have failed, this time round. Learn from the experience.

Firstly, the definition of a collaborative failure is;

• Project did not reach intended goal. In this case - there were not enough pledges or the target was set too high.
• It did not get the recognition it needed. This is possible, but the amount of views on our blog alone would have secured us victory. So not convinced that recognition was a real reason for failure.
• Inadequate credibility. Very possible. We had seen enough interest from our engineering community - but perhaps there was not enough official weighting to the proceedings to call enough of us into action. Not one retweet by the IStructE, or ICE or ASCE, ACE... or indeed any engineering institution, community or group. This would not look good.
• The message was lost. More likely to be the real cause. You simply did not know what was going on. Why we were doing this, and how it would help...WHY?!

The lack of a common vision was apparent from some of the comments coming in. Unfortunately - by the time we began to recognise the lack of direction, it was too late to change the project details.

It occurred to us that this was not a collaborative effort at all, and this was why it ultimately failed.

The project suffered because crowd funding is still quite a new thing to all of us. Again it had became obvious by chatting to a few of those who asked questions, that the idea of crowd funding was alien to them. Understanding it was just another thing to learn. 

Another small detail which proved to be a barrier to success was pay-pal. What a joke. More and more people are signing up for pay-pal accounts to pay for online merchandise, but if you are anything like me, I hate the thought of having to pay 80p to pay-pal for what was effectively supposed to be a fun project. 

The list above is heavily staked in favour of failure, and the straw which broke the camels back, was that the investment target was set far too high. 

In reality, only a very small target was required to get this project off the ground. We genuinely believed that we wouldn't be able to provide everyone with a deck of cards - so we raised the target amount to support a heavier response and pledge rate. You live and learn.

What next?

Well we know that some of you still want this project to happen. We want it to happen too.

So we will make it happen from this end and let you know when we have printed them of ready for distribution. It's a great idea and deserves to see the light of day.

Many thanks, and please give us your comments.

Engine[er]

It's becoming easier to be Rebel Scum

Last post I mentioned Kevin Taylor. A structural engineer who has worked his way through engineering technician status, had a long stint checking calculations for a local authority, and now busies himself with running his own one-man-band engineering practice [+ sub consultants].

Since posting up the links to his engineering websites to my [blog], I have had the opportunity to briefly chat with him on the telephone. I asked a few questions, like about how and why he is trying to push into a predominantly web based market? Also, I enquired as to how his business was fairing - at this stage.

A summary of Kevins' online ventures can be found within the [links] at the end of my last post.

What drew me to Kevin's online [businesses] was his apparent disregard for formalities. Paying no homage to the tried and tested business plans, which exist within smaller structural and civil engineering enterprises. The man has a plan, and it appears that he is not afraid to journey into the unknown, just to see what happens.

As you can imagine - I'm loving that. As an engineer, designer, creative and fledgling entrepreneur... I'm loving that adventurous spirit.

Please do not misunderstand me, Kevin obviously has thought long and hard before committing time and money to his ventures. Citing business and engineering role models such as Chris Wise, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and Bill Gates, Kevin appears to have transferred our trade mark engineering 'have a go' attitude into his businesses too.

The question is; will the time spent, pay off for him? To put it in Kevin's words "Time will tell" and "I didn't go into this expecting immediate results". Good man.

What I think is that this form of engineering business style is only the beginning. Since the established 'mini-me' consultancy paradigms seem to rely [in part] upon following the same analogous route of putting in time, leveraging connections, earning your stripes [blah, blah], and making the most of any opportunities thrown our way, it is only logical that small companies like Kevin's, will grab more and more ground through guerilla style marketing techniques. Or indeed, they will evolve in such ways so that the limitations in growth set by the larger, established engineering and construction companies become insignificant, and easy to circumnavigate.

Another question we should be asking ourselves as engineers is, what are we physically doing to reinforce or break down the status-quo of our industries historical business practices here? Why is it becoming easier to rebel, and who stands to benefit from the ensuing anarchy?

From my personal viewpoint - so long as we have strive for ingenuity and ethical behaviour; we are professionally capable, knowledgeable, AND we do not expose ourselves, our clients and benefactors to unesseccary risks... then innovation will out itself eventually. So change is a foot, and is a good thing.

• Why is it easier to rebel? The long tale has become unsettled, and is begging for change. Faster, more pervasive communication is readily available.
• Who stands to benefit? We all do. Even those who stand to loose the most, will gain a newly motivated, educated and business-like workforce. 

So what is standing in the way of change? I could say tradition. I might even be tempted to utter the word loyalty. Loyalty to a business paradigm which non-longer deserves our undying faithfulness to it.

The problem with both of those words, is with what value do you attach to them? Especially when your business is cracking up, or you are being pushed from one redundancy package to another. Or indeed, you can't even seem to give your time away to a local engineering consultancy, just so you can flesh out your CV, in readiness for better times.

Times are not good for the long tail... or are they?

I finished my last blog by remarking that I was scared, and I also invited the readers of this blog, to pose an answer as to why this might be the case. No comments back. But that's OK, because I am quite happy to reveal to you my thoughts.

There is an entrepreneurial spirit out there, amongst us engineers. With every new business start-up, the owners dreams [like seeds] are being cast upwards and outwards in the hope that they will land fortunately, and germinate in a nutritious environment.

The truth is, there really is no fertile soil left. We have over farmed this particular field.

Yes, Long tails like Kevin can survive in a less than welcoming environment, and represent the metaphorical localised testing of new 'super crops'. Unfortunately though, it is still far too easy to remain on the sidelines, to criticise, to abstain from providing support and to apply the 'if I had a time machine' retort to each and every venture we witness.

I'm scared because, what Kevin needs is support. Support from his clients and from his peers. But will he get it? Only the remaining engineering long-tails can answer that. That's you and me [of course]. 

As you know, I launched a small collaborative effort which has only cost me time, energy and the sharing of another idea from my mind. An experiment; the results of which are expected to help me plan my next engineering endeavour. By the way, please keep coming back here and supporting me where ever you can!

I really appreciate the emails and messages through LinkedIn. They all keep me going.

To finish off I would like to leave you with this cool reminder. We do make a difference to each others lives, careers, futures. Do not make the mistake of thinking that you are on your own in this world. There are always people out there who can help you - should they choose to.

So give innovation a go. Kevin is. 


Engine[er]

BIG SHOUT OUT TO RICHARD SALMON. Thanks for the support :-)