Feedback from Open Contracting Book Sprint

The following are snippets from a survey of the Open Contracting Book Sprint participants. Survey conducted by the World Bank Institute.

“It was advanced level of writing a book in a collaborative manner. Most efficiently, it can be used not only for writing a book, but also writing or preparing a joint academic paper for students and practitioners in various subjects. In one word: Wonderful”

“New, advanced, progressive method to write a joint paper on the basis of experience demonstrated. “

“I would suggest it to students and other practitioners, those who are producing knowledge paper to share.”

“Adam exuded, and managed to instill, confidence, even when there were significant practical challenges to be overcome”

“I believe the methodology came alive in our book sprint. Aside from the writing, there was also buzzing all around, which means people are really engaged and exchanging ideas while writing. There was give-and-take. There was embrace and letting go. I think almost all the participants surrendered to the process.”

“The method itself is my best take-away.”

“No room for intellectual vanity in the book sprint method. It’s not really the book that truly matters, but the spirit of collaboration to produce it.”

“The book sprint process is amazing and consistent with our organisation’s core value, which is collaboration.

“It is tough but rewarding. It is unpredictable yet always brings about result in the end.”

“The methodology is great and allows participation and drawing from practical experiences from different perspectives. It promotes networking and above all provides for peer reviews which in turn enhances quality. “

“The product is a key resource for me. The networks established I have already started using by asking for some information tools and comments. “

“The methodology facilitated bringing together the wealth of knowledge, skills and experiences of different people. It also helped to facilitate people to accommodate other perspectives. Finally, it helped to facilitate several reviews of different sections by different people which in turn helped to broaden their own understanding but also improve the product. The reader will benefit from the outcomes of industry specific and general knowledge plus peer reviews of the work.”

“It was an amazing experience in collaborating on a key product and the formation of a community – the building of consensus and ownership around different pieces of the book and of OC itself was great to see.”

“I think the book sprint worked very well; I found it very inspirational. “

“I loved the low tension amongst the sprinters. It was a great experience. “

“I am happy to share the book with my colleagues across the globe (south Africa especially) working around access to information especially in the light of socio-economic justice, business and human rights. “

“One of the key aspects was to have such a diverse group of practitioners which allowed different points of view and experiences to be shared.”