So as some of you might have seen if you follow us we sat down as a team on Tuesday, worked through our projects and Tom announced a ‘Contract-a-thon’.
In practice this means we’re going to prioritise getting projects contracted over picking up new ideas for the next three weeks. It doesn’t mean the Commissioners will not see new ideas coming into the system. I’m absolutely certain they won’t be able to resist taking a peak at the new shiny ideas, but it does mean they will have to face-down the Ops Enforcer (ahem, me) reminding them of their agreed priorities. Contracts, contracts, contracts!
If we’re talking to you already, we’ll continue to do so and if you submit an idea then it will be reviewed, just be patient whilst we’re in Contract-a-thon.
In all likelihood we are going to tweak the way we process proposals and Tom has asked me to come up with alternative approaches. Dan’s call for ideas around the iPhone 3.0 has been a real success and Lucy has worked with various different funding models. Basically we’re looking to tweak our approach to get the right projects to the running code stage as soon as possible, which is what it’s all about. This is my task for the next couple of weeks, but in the meantime I ask for your patience if we go quiet on the feedback front.
Also and slightly off topic, thanks to everyone who has provided feedback about the online submissions system. It’s been really useful. We’ve got a new version coming out soon which incorporates some of it. More soon.
Sophie Garrett on Wed, April 29, 2009 at 9:59 said:
As one of the people with an idea submitted six weeks ago, I wondered how long it is likely to be now before I find out whether you are interested in my submission.
I can understand your problem: I’d guess there are an awful lot of submissions. Do you have different people responsible for sifting submissions, developing ideas, negotiating contracts and ensuring delivery, or is all the same people?
Perhaps the the best thing you can do is work on managing expectations. If you think it will take two months before you’ll look at anything submitted today, then say three months and the people will be pleased when they hear from you in ten weeks!
Good luck, I think the concept of 4iP is fantastic.
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