The Logo Subcommittee of the Barn Architect Selection Committee actually sounds like something Americans would form back in the halcyon days when we did build things.
Some mediocre little guy got to call himself "subcommittee chairman" and be king for a day while he made pronouncements on barn logos (and got a little experience in leadership for future occasions). Everyone who cared about the barn logo had their say, got to give input and be heard, and so they felt they owned the end result.
The committee was inefficient as hell, but the end result was that people were bought in because they got a little slice of the power and prestige. They didn't just get paid, they got a little standing in the community. They made their mark of the whole project and that feeling is one of the greatest motivators to work in the world.
So when it came time to raise the barn they were dynamos because they wanted to see their logo on high.
Compare that to today when I give my TaskRabbit barn raiser $200 to raise my barn. They aren't invested in the success of the barn, they just want to do the least barn raising for the most money while I want them to raise the most barn for the least dollars. Our relationship is adversarial. I'm under no obligation to listen to anything the barn raiser has to say and the only way they can express dissatisfaction is by quitting.
That's fair, yes. At the same time when the process takes long enough, it's hard to retain any sense of ownership by the end. Exhaustion is more like it.
Some mediocre little guy got to call himself "subcommittee chairman" and be king for a day while he made pronouncements on barn logos (and got a little experience in leadership for future occasions). Everyone who cared about the barn logo had their say, got to give input and be heard, and so they felt they owned the end result.
The committee was inefficient as hell, but the end result was that people were bought in because they got a little slice of the power and prestige. They didn't just get paid, they got a little standing in the community. They made their mark of the whole project and that feeling is one of the greatest motivators to work in the world.
So when it came time to raise the barn they were dynamos because they wanted to see their logo on high.
Compare that to today when I give my TaskRabbit barn raiser $200 to raise my barn. They aren't invested in the success of the barn, they just want to do the least barn raising for the most money while I want them to raise the most barn for the least dollars. Our relationship is adversarial. I'm under no obligation to listen to anything the barn raiser has to say and the only way they can express dissatisfaction is by quitting.