Sndbox Final Quest: My Journey with the Speak Freely TV Project

This Dlive video is a compilation of 4 videos I filmed on different days. I gave a quick update, as well as my reflections on that day. My detailed contributions are outlined in this written post but I still encourage you to watch my video as it gives a different perspective on my journey.

Note: I linked a Youtube backup below if Dlive video doesn't play. I have also updated the Dlive video link as the 1st upload doesn't work.

The following is my personal journey and I also invite you to read our team output for this quest:

The Project Plan for Speak Freely TV

Decision Making: The Speak Freely TV Project

A few weeks ago, the rules for the final Sndbox quest was announced and the very first task was making a decision. We had to select a project that we would like to work with. All of the projects are exceptional so I had to take a few hours to think about it after the Sndbox post was up.

Prior to the announcement, we were given a chance to vote for 2 Sndbox entries for the Projects and Coding quest. I have voted for Project Giving and Speak Freely TV. Charity work is something I have been involved with and I also belong to a company that does a lot of charitable events so I wanted to try something different and something that I haven't done. Speak Freely TV was appealing to me because it encourages speaking to the camera or with someone with no judgment. This is also an activity which will take me out of my comfort zone.

This is a project I believe in and I would like to be involved with. I personally fear being bashed and trolled but this project gives courage to people like me who has a lot to say but hasn't found a platform to talk.

Research

I have only been involved at the end stage of the project, usually during the testing and implementation stages, but I have never been involved with planning. When I learned about the task at hand for us, the first thing I did was talk to a colleague at work who works with the Project Management team.

I learned the basics of Project Planning which I also shared with the team.

Brainstorming and Meetings

As with any planning, brainstorming is one of the main activities that we did initially. We chatted and also had meetings in Zoom. Below are some of my contributions in the brainstorming stage.

Although I think a lot of our conversations cannot be captured in a few screenshots. I also think that the other half of our ideas, if not more, took place during our conference calls. I think our meetings in Zoom got us to take action faster because we are able to have a consensus and discuss things real time. Unlike in chats where it will take longer due to the time zone differences.

I enjoyed our meetings because my teammates are all pleasant to talk to. We start with small chit chats and then mean business during the meeting proper. I think most of the ideas we started in the discord were taken to the next level in these meetings because we were able to discuss on these further, in real time.

Organization

Our discord channel was overflowing with brilliant ideas from the 6 of us. I thought of making a Task Tracker which is a spreadsheet file shared in Google docs. This lists all of the action items that we had pending. Initially, I have included a column for the owner of the task but someone from the team is more comfortable not to have this seen. I removed this as we're a small team and it's easier to recall who owns this task anyway. I think a To Do list like this is important so we don't miss out on important tasks.

Another organizing tool I made is our Time Planner. I had this idea when @cahlen had a first meeting but he was alone in that meeting because it was difficult to set a meeting due to our timezone difference. The solution I contributed for this most challenging factor is this spreadsheet Time Planner where everyone's time zone is plotted against the other timezones. I used PST as the base time as this was the time used by Sndbox in their deadlines for this quest. This helped us identify the best time for the majority of us to meet.

_{The highlighted green cells were our actual meeting time}

The Final Post

All the ideas and concepts that we need are in the shared Google docs and in our channel. The last few tasks was to put them all in our team post. We had talked about dividing the tasks but we didn't have the parts to divide.

As mentioned, I didn't have experience in Project Planning and it was natural for me to do research. You may have noticed that working in spreadsheets and research, no matter how boring they look, are some things I'm used to doing.

I found a good resource on what a project proposal paper should have from https://www.projectmanager.com/templates/project-proposal-template

I have outlined it in our Google Docs which the team have agreed to use. Basically, I outlined the Executive Summary, Background, Mission Vision, Objectives, Deliverables and Timeframe, Budget and Conclusion, which I have learned from my research. I was supposed to write about Risk Management but we later on decided to remove this part as there are no identified risks for this project.

We had this meeting at night my time and I was one of the last ones to edit the post the following day. Most people have already written a lot. My teammates are mostly writers and they were able to write a lot of the things we have discussed in the draft post. I looked for parts I can still add on so I expounded on the Deliverables and Timeframe section. My parts in the final post draft are in blue.

I also made an Infographic from the table that was already layed out by Tifa. You can see in the post that this looks so novice as it is my first time to create one. But I enjoyed making it as it and learning about it at the same time.

We already had a table for it but I wanted to add more value on the post. I also made the breakdown table for the 100 SBD budget, based on what we have discussed as a team.

Finally, I checked on the post to see where it can still be improved. We earlier agreed that we will own some parts but everyone is free to edit other sections. We just agreed on using different text colors so they know which were revised, this is so it is also easier to revert to the original text if needed to.

I believe the final output evolved from everyone's ideas during our brainstorming and meetings. We may have owned some parts but each one has a contribution to how we came up with the words for this post. You can see this at how colorful our shared document is because everyone keeps on adding or revising to improve the post.

Final Thoughts

I have really enjoyed working on this project because I support what it aims to achieve. Most of all, I enjoyed working with my teammates @akbarrafs, @amymya, @cahlen, @evecab and @tifaong. I'm amazed by how it was easy to work with them despite the short time we were given to get to know each other, adjust to each other's working style, and the work we needed to execute in this quest.

To be honest, I didn't have to adjust so much because the team were all considerate and actively involved in the project at the same time. There was no free rider at all. Each one has amazing contributions to this project and were very resourceful on how we can make our virtual working space more effective. You are awesome, guys!

Personally, I loved that I was able to transfer my existing skills and at the same time learn new things. I am used to working in spreadsheets and in a business environment with a partially virtual set up as well. I also learned to initiate more, which is something I am not given a lot of opportunity in my real life work because it's always the management who decides on the next steps.

I am also glad to be able to work on a project at the planning stage. This is a big opportunity given to me. At work, unless you're top management or part of the project management team, you really do not see how a project evolves from the start. This is one thing I love in this platform, there is always an opportunity for anyone who's willing to work for it.

Lastly, I would like to thank @anomadsoul, @guyfawkes4-20 and the rest of the @sndbox team for creating this quest. This is the most complex but enriching contest that I have joined. But I think I cannot call it just a contest, it is a quest, a journey. Thank you for this enriching experience and I know that this is just a jump start for these Steem projects which will make our community better.

My video is at DLive