From our family to yours, may your days be filled with magic and wonder!
Out of all the years we’ve pursued a thematic holiday family photo (since 1995!), 2018 has proven to be the most efficient, productive, and collaborative one yet. What was the big change? Attending Adobe Max 2018 definitely improved my Photoshopping skills, but the game changer this year was our usage of Slack. Yes, I actually convinced my family to support my employer and drink in the amazing Kool-aid of integrating Slack in our family communications.
There are 10 major steps to execute a fun family photo. And Slack helped out tremendously for every single step (except for Number Three and Ten because one requires a camera and the other requires external distribution).
- Brainstorm ideas that resonate with us for the year.
- Seek / borrow / buy costumes and props.
- Take photos with the green screen.
- Search awesome background images and agree on the best one.
- Share the best individual photos and add the selected ones to the background
- Show to the family for initial thoughts.
- Crowdsource feedback, edit suggestions, and critiques.
- Iterate.
- Finalize.
- Share!
With several individuals, decision makers, and opinions through every step of the process, the idea of communicating and collaborating can be daunting for most. In the past, we relied heavily on email threads, which was a tedious and inefficient medium to work from. With Slack, everyone’s voice was heard, content was easily accessible and searchable, and the entire drafting process was buttery smooth compared to any previous year. I’ll share the tactical wonders and advantages Slack has in an upcoming blog/vlog. Stay tuned and Merry Christmas!