Short term projects over long term ones

December 29, 2005 @ 11:55 pm · Filed under Forums/Communities

Image hosted by Photobucket.com In this post i’m going to concentrate on a very important topic: forum projects, specifically arguing for short-run projects.

From Wikipedia:
A project is a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service. Temporary means that the project has an end date. Unique means that the project’s end result is different than the results of other functions of the organization.

Now for forums a project can be a bit diffferent, but it’s kinda the same…an example of forum project is a contest for example.

So let’s head straight to the point, shall we?

1.[Key Reason]Multiple projects at a time: This is pretty much the main factor, other arguments for can be branched from this one: It’s easier to manage 3-4 short term projects than 1 long-term one. This way, you can have multiple projects at a time.

2.People get bored with long-term projects: Until i came to the concerned realization, i thought long-term work is always better, but quickly discovered that people get bored with this kind of projects, people always look for something new, so they’d rather take part of two short contests a month, rather than waiting for a 2 month lottery to be drawn. I also found out that i, as an admin..get a bit of burnout after a while.

3.Less complication: Short-term projects are simply less complicated than long ones, making them better to arrange and execute.

4.Requires less persistency: It’s pretty hard to keep up in the same pace after 2 months, and surely super-hard after half a year…if you’re a not very persistent admin, short-term project can make up for this.

5.More oppurtunities per member: The fact that you have multiple projects going on, or maybe a couple of ones one after the other probably says that they’ll be different from each-other aswell, so…for instance if member X isn’t that good at graphics he won’t take place in your graphics contest, but he’s good in writing..so there’s a chance he’ll take place in the next writing-themed project you’re going to have.

6.More support and help, more roles for members: Creating a variety of projects that engage in different fields will probably result in finding really good people at a certain field, that can help you with arranging future similar-themed projects, furthermore members will start to show more interest since they’re appreciated for their help.

7.More to Show-off, more to be proud of: Potential members will are more likely to register with a forum that listed 3 different contests than joining a forum with 1 big long-lasting feature. I call this the weak eye effect.

8.Holding momentum, keeping the fire lit: Whether you want to keep the high activity rate, or save your forum activity-rate to reach the lowest precentage rate, short term ones surely do the job.

*As you see, alot of things are connected with each other, like in all the foruming business, master it..and you’ve got yourself a fortune . (hey, i think i heard that sentence somewhere)