Okay, so I wanted to try out this “Beginners Choice Convene” thing. I’d heard some buzz about it, and figured, why not? I’m always up for trying new stuff, especially if it promises to make my life easier.
Getting Started
First, I needed to figure out what I actually needed. This “Convene” thing seemed geared towards, well, convening… meetings, groups, whatever. I’ve been juggling a few different projects lately, so keeping everyone on the same page has been a bit of a headache. That’s where I decided to focus.
I started by simply writing down everything I do. Every project and my *, literally everything. Emails, calls, quick chats in the hallway – all of it. It was a bit overwhelming to see it all laid out, but it also helped me see where the biggest time-sucks were.
The Messy Middle
Next, I started experimenting. No fancy tools or anything, just good old trial and error. For one project, I decided to try a shared document where everyone could update their progress. Seemed simple enough, right?
- First Attempt: Total chaos. People were editing over each other, nobody knew what was current, and it ended up being more confusing than before. Fail.
- Second Try: I set up a basic online form where people could submit their updates. Better, but still clunky. Lots of manual copying and pasting on my end.
I then started making a weekly report and meeting with *’s a little bit good.
Getting some tools
After some unsuccessful attempts.I finally found some easy-to-use tools and tried them out.
I set up a simple schedule and shared it with everyone involved. I made sure to include clear deadlines and who was responsible for what.
And used a communication way to get feedbacks.
Seeing Results (Finally!)
It took a few weeks, but I started to see a difference. People were actually using the schedule, and the communication. Meetings were shorter and more focused, because everyone already knew the basics. I wasn’t spending hours chasing down updates, because they were all in one place.
It’s still a work in progress, of course. I’m constantly tweaking things, trying to find what works best for each project and each group of people. But overall, this “Convene” approach has definitely made things smoother. Less chaos, more actual work getting done. And that’s a win in my book.
