18 Lessons Learned in 2008

It's time for our 2nd annual Year-End Lessons Learned post. 2008 was a great year for Common Craft.  While we published a number of videos that we're very proud of, 2008 was all about building a foundation for the future of our business.  Going into 2009, we're feeling confident that we have a solid foundation in place - and now is our time to put more videos into the world.

Here are a few things we learned: 

Overall Business:

Being Lightweight: Planting the Right Plants

If you don't like yardwork, you have a choice.  You can hire gardeners or you can plant things that don't require much care.  

This is my way of saying that we all have a choice in how we grow. Because we want Common Craft to stay small, we look at new opportunities in terms of yardwork and ask ourselves - is this going to require gardeners in the future? If so, then maybe we should look for opportunities that are more likely to take care of themselves and allow us to focus on what really makes us excited and happy.

Lessons in Starting Over

The last few weeks have been both frustrating and enlightening here at Common Craft headquarters. We're in the middle of an ambitious production schedule that has us working on two new series of videos that will appear on the Common Craft Show and Store.  There are a lot of balls in the air - multiple scripts, storyboards and productions.  It's a lot to manage.

Client Video: Windows Live.com

Common Craft was hired by Microsoft to help explain the new Windows Live.com.  We were so excited to work with a local organization on a project that highlights a new direction for the company.

Introducing: The Common Craft Explainer Network

A few weeks ago, we posted "Seeking Producers of Video Explanations" and wrote:

We see an opportunity for a win-win.  Every day, we receive multiple emails from organizations that are looking for custom explanatory videos... The opportunity we see is to create a way, through our website, to help organizations find video producers who can be hired to produce custom videos.

What is an Explanation?

Sachi and I been talking about this and we're curious what you think.  What is an explanation? What are the skills required to be a good explainer?  What makes a good explanation?

Client Video: Ford Sync in Plain English

We were hired by Ford Motor Company and Social Media Group to produce this video about Sync - a Microsoft technology that uses voice activation to control cell phones and mp3 players. In learning about the technology, we became fans of Sync, especially now that you can get a ticket in Washington State for holding a phone while driving.  

What To Do About Copy-Cats?

For quite a while now, we’ve been flattered to see others create videos that appear very similar to ours. In many cases, these are positive videos that are used as classroom exercises.  We encourage others in the education world to create Common Craft-inspired videos. Of course, some producers have taken the idea in new directions and mediums, which we also encourage. Further, some producers choose to publicly attribute Common Craft for inspiring their work - and we deeply appreciate this kind of recognition.