In a team, they are the no-people and the yes-people, the later should outnumber the former on any project and I learned this lesson again the hard way. When surrounded by No-people it can be mind bogglingly frustrating. I am older now but I am always learning. What I recently learned is that No-people can not only be road blocks to success but can be dangerous to a project and even sink them if you let them.
I have been working on a few development projects in the past few months. All these projects are linked but involve small teams working on sections of a very large project. The project involves software and hardware but it is all still related to filmmaking. In the following months, I will reveal more about it, even if the 10 year old me wants to tell everyone what I am working on, because I love these types of projects that make my mind imagine the future of cinema... "these are very exciting times".
One of the elements of our project involves VR elements and we had an opportunity to enter a completion, VR Oculus Jam 2015. Me and my partner assembled a team of young talented prospects to execute a small part of the project. It was a long time that I hadn't encountered the Nay sayers. The Nay sayers have evolved, they didn't just say "NO" blindly, they added a new twist... "No, why...". At first I was confused and really disoriented. The No was follow with an unmotivated WHY? As in, why do this? Why is this important? Why, why, why!... with little motivation to bring solutions to the many obstacles that every project brings. In the end we were able to achieve the goal but I can only imagine what we could have accomplished if our energies were focused.
Over the years, I guess, I have been lucky in picking my collaborators. Usually when I participate in a project we get to a road block, and the people involved have to be beaten off with a bat with their suggestions from the "Yes" state of mind. Don't get confused they are not blindly saying "Yes" like a crooked Capone Gangster.
The truly talented folks, craftsmen and craftswomen, have also evolved, they look at the problem or speed-bump and say "YES and..." The " and..." is a brilliant suggestion that pushes your project to another level. The real superstar Yes-people are already one step ahead of you. They are saying "Yes (I already fixed that)-And I did this that makes it even better, what else can I do?
Unfortunately, you can't find a metric for this personality, in my opinion. You need to use your gut and the experiences to see how people react when the pressure is put on a project. I am glad that I was reminded that I have made good choices in the past and I also have been lucky enough to work with people that more often than not say "Yes and... " to a problem and passionately try to produce the best out of a project.
More to come soon, very exciting times...