rethink
Jun 25, 2024
reTHINK: Collaboration
Ideas are easy, they are everywhere, and it’s not difficult to come up with a good idea. Making ideas into an actual “thing” is hard…really hard. Especially when you need to rely on a team to make that idea come to life. What I mean by that is taking an idea, compelling others to iterate that idea into a plan that can be executed to produce a real outcome, whatever form that outcome takes. On top of all that, the challenges we all face in our remote-first/hybrid world impact our productivity, collaboration, and overall well-being. We’ve all struggled to maintain team dynamics and culture, the lack of face-to-face interactions, coordinating across time zones, all of which demand a new generation of collaboration, not a stop gap, but a leap forward.
The challenges we all face in our remote-first/hybrid world impact our productivity, collaboration, and overall well-being.
When we imagined building reTHINK, we wanted to enable teams do more than just share desktop screens and talk to each other about ideas. Our idea was to build a virtual workspace that teams could use from anywhere and feel like they’re in the same space together. Imagine having a dedicated space your team could use anytime. A customizable space to reflect your brand, your project, yourself whatever. Imagine being in that room immersed in creative all around you. Not just displayed on a screen, but HUGE life size images, 3D models, videos and more all around. The ultimate creative war room, that’s all yours, shared to anyone you like. Good idea, right? Sounds easy enough.
Fast forward to the first time we jumped into a reTHINK room together was amazing. It blew our minds. We were all there, talking, moving around, and laughing. We shared it with our families, our friends (who thought we were crazy), but they too couldn’t believe the real power of connection and atmosphere we created. Then the ideas REALLY started, and we quickly realized we needed a way break down collaboration into a framework to categorize core mechanics we could develop for reTHINK. For us, collaboration is more than just getting together to talk about ideas. It’s about working with others to stimulate ideas that create solutions for real problems. Solutions that can be effectively communicated to a team and organization, that ultimately result into real products. It’s a creative process, and ideas without effective collaboration die long before they even have a chance to become great products. Other ideas may just need more time to germinate to find their right place. Timing is everything right? So, if the timing isn’t right, reTHINK makes ideas visible and present in a persistent space, easy to access, waiting to breathe new life and energy into an idea when timing is right.
Ideas without effective collaboration die long before they even have a chance to become great products.
After brainstorming and reflecting on our past experiences, both good and bad, we came up with our own collaboration framework. A framework to actively engage participants in a workflow to improve knowledge transfer, inspire curiosity, build team confidence, and increases cooperation. All this while staying focused, in flow, and having fun. We call it the 3 C’s of Collaboration:
Create
Connect
Communicate.
Our framework incorporates ideas around the 4 C’s soft skills, Ideation techniques, and Lean methodologies. The 3 C’s help us compartmentalize individual product features, when combined, create an experience larger than any one feature alone.
3 C’s of Creative Collaboration: Create, Connect, Communicate.
reTHINK is for the people who need to be together, those individuals and organizations striving to generate and enhance ideas. The 3 C’s serve as a powerful framework of actions to spark ideas, create focus, and invigorate creative collaboration. Let’s explore a bit how each of these collaborative actions work and build on one another.
CREATE
Gathering Ideas in a Common Space
The first step in any creative process is to create/collect ideas from a variety of sources and formats into a common area. In reTHINK this is really a magical experience like no other. Imagine transforming the space around with images, videos, 3D objects, sketches, and notes. A space where inspiration is visible to everyone, at room scale, not displayed on a small screen or confined to a location in room. In reTHINK, you can do this with others whether you’re together in the same space or connecting from remote locations. You can transform any physical space around you with digital content using mixed reality (AR), or in a digital space (VR)…or a mix of both. It all just works.
reTHINK lets you gather ideas quickly and easily into a space that immediately feels familiar, relaxed, inspired, and free to let our minds wander. The design of our spaces in reTHINK are purpose built to encourage free thinking (remember, Design Matters). The goal is to cultivate a space where creativity can thrive. By simplifying the process of idea collection, we ensure that no potential spark of innovation is lost and remains visible for all.
Connect:
Building Pathways to Solutions
Once we have collected our pools of inspiration, the next step is to make connections through those ideas as the pathways to solutions. By linking different types of information coherently, we can shape our solutions more effectively. This involves making sense of the gathered ideas, identifying patterns, and drawing connections that might not be immediately obvious. We’re testing some incredible new features that make this process insanely powerful and fun - I’m excited to share more details soon as we get closer to release.
In this stage, collaboration tools and technologies play a crucial role. They help us map out relationships between ideas and begin to construct a narrative that leads to innovative solutions. Connecting ideas from diverse sources allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the problem at hand, ultimately leading to more robust and creative solutions.
Communicate:
Distilling and Sharing Solutions
The final step is to distil our solutions into a clear and concise message that can be effectively shared within an organization, to a team, or with individuals. Effective communication ensures that everyone is on the same page and can contribute to refining and implementing the solutions.
THIS is where reTHINK really shines. In today’s digital age, communication goes beyond traditional methods. Immersive mediums that break through physical barriers—such as virtual reality presentations, interactive digital documents, and collaborative software—can enhance the way we share our ideas. The goal is to communicate in a manner that is engaging and accessible, ensuring that our solutions resonate with the audience.
The 3 C’s—Create, Connect, Communicate—are essential actions for fostering creative collaboration. By gathering ideas into a common space, building pathways to solutions, and distilling these solutions into clear messages, we can enhance creativity and productivity. This framework not only helps in generating and refining ideas but also in ensuring that these ideas are effectively communicated and implemented. Embrace the 3 C’s in your collaborative efforts to spark innovation and drive success.
