This is a place to talk about "personal" and "organizational" best practices. While these may be generally useful, they are being developed with Novel Research Institute in mind.
- Put your work where others can see it.
- Do what you can to make it so that other people can not only see your work, but use it or participate in it, if they are interested.
- Try to find ways to communicate openly and to be receptive to communications coming from others, even if this takes time and effort, you can learn from the process.
- In the world of software and other related areas, whoever has the best documentation wins!
- This all implies that the process should be depersonalized to some extent -- that is to say, although individuals are bound to be of great importance to the process, non-individual aspects of the process -- at an extreme, things anyone could do -- are also important.
- As one explicit concrete example, make sure that at least one other person knows how to operate the resources you work with, and be prepared to teach anyone who asks how to operate that resource as well. (See Resources.)
- Participate in the work of others; learn by doing.
- "Participating" requires you to find out what others are doing. Even if all you're able to do is to survey the work in some field, that's OK; your survey may end up being even more useful to someone else. However, ideally, you'll be able to "participate fully" after you "figure out what's going on". If not, that may be a reason to ask yourself if you really want to be involved as a second-class participant, or not.
- Be clear about the different scales and dimensions on which the work will play out. Will it take 3 days or 3 years? What's needed? Who cares? Etc.
- One or two projects that are moving forward combined with surveys in related areas may be all other people will need to find ways of becoming involved with your projects.
- Be aware of the different kinds of quality that may be relevant in making your work useful, including internal features and "quality at the boundary". What else do people need to know to understand this?
- In general, don't disregard the value of work you have already done!
And...
- Don't be afraid to start over.
- Respect the fact that different people work, learn, and communicate differently; try to adapt yourself to the needs of others, but be clear that you may expect some adaptation on their part either simultaneously or at some other point in time. Be clear about your needs, and get clarity from others about theirs.
- Learn more about the emotional and other "human factors" of the work. Consider that "Just as studying math increases our math competency, and practice with a musical instrument increases our musical competency, studying emotions and practicing constructive responses can increase our emotional competency." (emotionalcompetency.com)