Hello, this is Hamabata from the Creative Department Operations Team.
It has been six months since the Kamiyama team was established as part of the operations team.
In the previous article, the Kamiyama members looked back on the six months since the launch, but in this "Webmaster Onwards" I would like to tell you about how Yoyogi is involved with the Kamiyama team.
As I don't have many projects that involve a lot of work with the Kamiyama team, I asked two people from the Yoyogi team who I have close ties with (Matsunaga, in charge of direction and coding, Yamanaka, in charge of direction) to help me out and chat about the various aspects of working on projects in Yoyogi and Kamiyama.
Communication is possible because we are far apart.
Hamabata
First of all, you're currently working on a long-term project with Matsunaga as director and the Kamiyama team in charge of production. How do you share daily tasks and manage progress?
Matsunaga
To be honest, I don't really manage it (laughs).
The Kamiyama members worked really hard, and we're now checking the final product.
As for production, the Kamiyama members are in charge of managing the progress, so I just give input. Of course I respond to any technical inquiries, but basically I keep sending things back until it's finished (laughs).
Hamabata
I see. So the Kamiyama members are working hard (laughs).
Matsunaga
That's right. They're proactively doing things one after another (laughs).
Matsunaga is in the creative department. He is a reliable father who handles a variety of projects as a director and coder.
Hamabata
In your case, you are the director and the production is handled by the Kamiyama members, so how is the project progressing?
In the mountains
Basically, I write all the specifications and issues on a spreadsheet and share it with Kamiyama. We also have pre-meetings via Hangouts*.
* = Video calling service provided by Google
If there was anything unclear, the members in Kamiyama would write the questions down on a spreadsheet. Once they had gathered the information to a certain extent, they would say, "We've entered the questions here, so please check them."
However, I often forgot to enter things into the spreadsheet (laughs). So, at Kamiyama's suggestion, we decided to have a meeting once a day.
Hamabata
Meeting on Hangouts?
In the mountains
Yes. The projects I work on involve a lot of submission files, so in the past I would contact them each time saying, "It's here!", but that was inefficient. If it was in the evening, we decided it would be better to do it together in the evening and say, "This has arrived, so please reflect it," and so on. From then on, we started having meetings once a day.
Yamanaka, who is in charge of direction, recently went to Kamiyama for the first time to meet the members and said he is looking forward to going back again.
Hamabata
Once a project is completed, you also have a review meeting.
In the mountains
The Kamiyama team checks what we've created, then I check it and we write down all the corrections in a spreadsheet. We also write down why the corrections were made and what measures we can take to prevent the same thing from happening again in the future. We discuss what we should do about it in Hangouts.
I know this is a little late to say, but spreadsheets are amazing (laughs). They're convenient because you can share them in real time.
Everyone (laughs).
"Little things" are difficult
Hamabata
Changing the subject, I imagine that as you work on a project, the structure and wording often change. In those cases, how do you share this information?
Matsunaga
Personally, I don't say anything unless it's something pretty critical. I like to save it up and then just say it at the end (laughs).
If it's just a change in wording, I'll just tell them, "I'll give you a little bit after I'm done." If I gave them a lot of things and asked them to read them all, it would be a huge waste of time. They'd read it all and say, "It's just text!" (laughs). That's why I do it like this.
In the mountains
I also like to put together anything that doesn't require an immediate response on the same day.
Hamabata
Speaking of which, the other day, when Yamanaka-san was working on two different projects for a client in parallel in Yoyogi and Kamiyama, there was a lack of sharing between the creators as to whether or not a minor change to a page made in Yoyogi should be reflected in the page made in Kamiyama... (bitter laugh).
In the mountains
At that time, there were certainly corrections made to the pages created by Yoyogi, but there was no need to reflect them in the pages created by Kamiyama, so I didn't say anything. However, confusion had arisen between the creators in Yoyogi and Kamiyama... I thought I should have said something earlier (bitter laugh).
Hamabata
If we were in the same space, we would be able to find out about minor changes right away, but in Kamiyama, there is still distance, so it's difficult to communicate or share small details.
In the mountains
That's right. On the other hand, I think it's difficult because there are cases where explaining things makes them even more confused.
Lately, I've come to feel that just by communicating with Kamiyama via Hangouts once a day, a lot of things can be solved...
Matsunaga
Come to think of it, it didn't end up coming to fruition. It was an idea for Kamiyama to be constantly shared, constantly hanging out. Kamiyama and Yoyogi would be constantly connected by a giant screen... (laughs).
In the mountains
Oh really? You didn't? Is it over?
Everyone (laughs)
Hamabata
On the other hand, when it comes to moving a project forward, is there anything you think would be a better way to communicate?
Matsunaga
I once again thought that it would be a good idea to have daily Hangouts meetings, as Yamanaka-san mentioned earlier. I do think that there may be a lack of information and technology sharing right now, and I think it would be better for both of us to do that. I'd like to ask Kamiyama about that too.
Hamabata
It all comes down to what the Kamiyama members think.
Matsunaga
I'd like to hear something like, "Here's the misunderstanding that occurred" (laughs).
Let's talk about this and that
Six months have passed since the Kamiyama team was established, and although it took some trial and error, the project is now running smoothly. I once again felt that the next challenge is how to ensure smooth and efficient communication between Yoyogi and Kamiyama.
Each person is putting various ideas into practice and trying them out, so we would love for everyone in Kamiyama to share their ideas as well, and let's think together about how we can ensure smooth communication between Yoyogi and Kamiyama!
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