Being Lightweight: Working with Clients
By leelefever on May 11, 2008 - 1:34pm.
It's a question we ask each other all the time - what is the most lightweight way we can do this?
We are a small company who is trying to do big things. In order to be
successful, we need to reduce drag - to remove the processes,
bureaucracies and commitments that slow us down and don't pay off.
Today we're kicking off a series of posts called "Being Lightweight" that will relate what lightweight means to us and hopefully help you think differently about how you focus your attention.
View With Comments Our Story of Getting Started with Online Video
By leelefever on May 5, 2008 - 9:26am.
We're often asked how we got started with our videos. Here's the story.
It all started with an online community. It was the latter part of 1999 and I was working in a healthcare data company called HBSI (which was eventually merged into non-existence). The customers were asking for a way to work together across hospitals. So, a few of us started an email group on eGroups, which is now Yahoo Groups. Through this experiment and the online community that grew out of it, I discovered my passion.
Our Videos at One Year: Facts and Figures
By leelefever on April 23, 2008 - 10:21am.
Well, as of today it has been exactly one year since all this video craziness began. On April 22, 2007 we published RSS in Plain English. We never guessed these videos would take us so far - it was just a problem that begged to be solved. Did you ever see a blog post with the same name from 2004?
Since our work is in front of people often, we both feel a little self conscious in talking about the numbers behind the videos. We don't want to seem ostentatious or too self-promotional. But, at the same time, I think that exposing some of the figures provides context and hopefully examples of the power of Social Media.
Own It
By leelefever on April 6, 2008 - 9:18pm.
What is the point where many projects get off track? We think it's when decision making becomes a burden. Indecision, lack of ownership and unclear reasoning often means stasis and frustration. Over the past year, and likely through traveling together, Sachi and I have evolved a system that helps us be productive without wasting time. It's a system of ownership - of being personally accountable for the small decisions that contribute to the overall goal.
Talkin' Bout My Education
By leelefever on March 27, 2008 - 10:56am.
Looking back at my education, I wasn't a great student. I made decent grades and went to a good university and grad school, but school was never my thing. Looking back, I can pin-point a couple of points at which I lost faith.
It was sixth grade and I was in a math class with Mrs. Paine (it's true - Paine). The subject was least common denominators. I didn't get it. My worksheets came back with red marks, but I didn't really understand what I was supposed to be doing. The class moved on while I was caught up in trying to memorize the details. Instead, what I needed was an understanding of the reasoning - not how, but why. It was at this point that I fell behind and began to dread math, as I do today.
Common Craft - (Nearly) A Year Later
By leelefever on March 24, 2008 - 6:21pm.
It's been almost a year since we published our first paperworks video - RSS in Plain English in April of 2007. Since that time, we've been watching every comment, every blog post and every email. We are lucky to have fans like you that have shared our videos and helped us learn so much.
It's through watching these conversations that we've been able to see new ways for Common Craft to have a bigger impact in the next year. We'll be more specific soon, but for now, I'd like to share some big picture perspectives on how we see you and ourselves. These perspectives will drive the changes you'll see in 2008.
Free is the Future
By leelefever on February 26, 2008 - 12:11pm.
Chris Anderson, the author of The Long Tail and editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, has moved his focus to "Free". His article is the cover story of the latest Wired (Free!
Sooo Typical
By leelefever on January 11, 2008 - 12:45pm.
Sachi came into the room where I draw and saw this piece of paper and nearly died from laughter. It's true - I'm sorry to say, I had a problem coloring a checkered flag. Such things are all too common in my world.
15 Lessons Learned in 2007
By leelefever on January 2, 2008 - 10:04am.
What a year. I can say with ultimate confidence that we never would have guessed, one year ago, that 2007 would be so transformative for Common Craft. Here are some things we learned:
OUR WORK
Video works. Text, graphics, audio, they all have a place. But video is a different animal. Nothing engages people like the dynamics of a video. Ever read about a car chase? It's not as fun.
View With Comments Learning The Independent Lifestyle
By leelefever on December 14, 2007 - 3:56pm.
I always wanted to be independent - I never, not once in my life, had the goal of working for someone else. It's not in my genes. In 2003 I founded Common Craft and in January of 2007 Sachi joined the company. Since then, Sachi has been the real force driving our goal of having a truly independent lifestyle.
And it is ALL about lifestyle. As I've written before, we make our lifestyle a huge priority. Why choose to be independent if you can't create a job and schedule that works for you? We've been trying to figure out what this means and I have a couple of examples.
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