The [[http://www.artofhosting.org/ | Art of Hosting]] folks have given enormous thought to harvesting.  The following is copied from

http://www.evolutionarynexus.org/wiki/the_art_harvesting:

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Harvesting is more than just taking notes. To get a sense of the complexity of this art, let's begin by picturing a field in which someone has planted wheat. How can that field of wheat be harvested?

We first imagine the harvest from that field as a farmer using equipment to cut down the wheat, thresh it, and separate the seeds from the stalks. The farmer might store the grain, further refine it, sell it quickly or wait for the price to increase.

Now imagine a geologist, a biologist and a painter harvesting from the same field. The geologist picks through the rocks and soil gathering data about the land itself. The biologist might collect insects and worms, bits of plants and organic matter. The painter sees the patterns in the landscape and chooses a palette and a perspective for work of art.

They all harvest differently from the field. The results of their work go to different places and are put to different uses. But they all have a few things in common; they have a purpose for being in the field and a set of questions about that purpose, they have a pre-determined place to use the results of the harvest, and they have specific tools to use in doing their work.

Despite the field being the same, the tools and results are specific to the need, [[purpose]] and inquiry.

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See more at http://www.artofhosting.org/thepractice/artofharvesting/.

In the expanded Art of Hosting way of looking at this, Harvesting becomes a driver in the entire design of the process.