The Dr. Who Series is going strong, but since launching this series I have learned a lot.
First of all “Take your time” I ended up rushing at the end to get the caches placed and I should have just sat and reflected for a bit and triple checked everything. Instead we ended up with the wrong final coordinates in every cache and if it wasn’t for the eagle eyes of one of the folks placing the cache I would never had known. I think if I hadn’t rushed them out I might have caught that mistake.
Next “choose your friends wisely.” When I decided to launch this series and make it a continent encompassing adventure I looked at my “friends list” on gc.com saw who had a significant number of finds and were placed in various spots around North America and asked them. Sadly some of my “gc.com” friends I had only met once or in some cases never face to face. This has lead to me not feeling as if I can really talk with them about any problems with the caches, or not even knowing if it was a “quality hide” Most people have been really excited to join in the game, almost as excited as I was to start it. Then there are others who this is just one more thing on a list and they’ll get it done, when they get it done.
I also needed to learn when to say “No” I think I would have been better off just saying – this series is for the Television version of the Doctor instead of (after hearing a complaint) expanding it out. While I think the placement of the last two Doctors will be great, I also feel that (again) I was almost rushed to get the designs done and then pestering the person who volunteered time & resources to make the wraps.
But I think the biggest thing I learned is not to have a final cache tied to a series that relies on so many other people in so many different places. It has been a bit of a headache placing the cache, then (because of my mistake) having to send out new stickers. Then getting complaints because one cache had both the old and new coordinates on it. Which (as far as I can tell) led to an email to Groundspeak, because the quick wording on the final lead to the belief that there were other logging requirements (contact me for the correct coordinates so you don’t get hit by a semi in the middle of the interstate). Everything had to fall into place, and it didn’t. My thanks to our understanding volunteer reviewers for working with me to get this addressed quickly, but I know how much of a headache it was for me- I can’t imagine the headache it was for them.
It has been a wild a crazy trip and if I were to try something like this again I will most definitely take my time, choose my friends wisely, and ignore complaints… also I probably won’t have a grand finale. If I do that, I’ll do the series on my own. Grumble, grumble… Yes, I sound like the Caching Curmudgeon & yes I already have a couple ideas for other series that I would like to do- just don’t rush me. đŸ™‚