Plans and schedules only get you so far; you always need to be ready to change, adapt. A month in to our projects we are progressing, evolving, fluidly moving from one development cycle to the next. And even though the end goal is becoming clearer we still need to stay flexible, be poised to adapt.  

But the need to change often arises in the depth of production at the moment when you’re ready to take the next step forward.  The good leader doesn’t necessarily make the right decisions at the outset; they recognize the need to adapt and are open and willing to do so; it’s not flip flopping, it’s evolution.

In the beginning stages of the creative process, it’s about ideas and theories – design;  at that point in the process it’s easier to adapt. The essence of the experience is ideas, as many as possible. So much so, often the amount of ideas and scope is overwhelming.  Out of this process of design a deep desire to stop talking and start doing arises. And once you progress from design to development it is relieving and reassuring to have made decisions, building upon a solid foundation.

But, things change. Perhaps the client instigates the change, perhaps a technical issue arises, perhaps one of the team members isn’t happy.  The hardest part of making changes is being open enough to see the need for it. It requires constant openness to the context in which you are working to sense the need to adapt.The first step in reacting to these situations is communication. The better the information flow the easier it is to make decisions efficiently and effectively.

Another hurdle in change making is overcoming the pain that comes with change. It requires fortitude to overlook the short-term gain of staying the course, and make the decision to change.

In the context of my project, we made a significant switch in technology (from Processing to Flash). It was a weighed decision and required that we reevaluate the knowledge of our team and how we are going to reach the end goal. And there has definitely been some pain in the process.  But we are confident in the long run this decision to adapt will serve us well and ultimately create a better product and result.  

Ryan Nadel is a first year student in the MDM program.