Common Craft Blog
Own It
By leelefever on April 06, 2008 - 10:18pm
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.
Early in the process, we talk a lot about the goal - the big ideas, the vision. Then, we can see how our independent roles will contribute. For example, Sachi (among other things) is our editor. From cutting the audio to stop-action to color correction, she owns it. Once she starts the process, all the decisions are hers. She can always ask for my thoughts, but my input is not required. By the time I see something, it's mostly done and we can iterate from a big picture perspective.
The same is true for me with the art work. I own the process of storyboarding and creating the artwork. I conceive the scenes and how they all fit together. Only after the bulk of the creative work is done do we come back together to make decisions before production. This way, I have a chance to own the vision of the video - a vision that may not be clear until all the pieces come together. I don't bother Sachi with the details - I own them.
We expect the same from our clients. The best projects, the projects that stay on schedule and produce the best outcomes are the ones where the project leader on the client side owns the project. They have the ability to make decisions and be accountable for their outcomes.
The lesson here? Ownership = efficiency, for us at least. Ownership mean understanding the goal and having the confidence to make independent decisions that contribute to it. It means not wasting time discussing every step along the way. It means getting work done quickly so that it can be evaluated as a whole. It means being accountable and ready to stand up for why we made the decisions we did.
Of course, this isn't to say we don't collaborate. When I wrote about being a video making team, iteration was a big theme. When we do come together to review, and especially to shoot a video, everything is subject to change. What we own are the chunks that make up the whole.
What made you write this post?
This is a problem I see in a lot of start-ups, especially when they start to grow. Ownership is not defined well and things are done inefficiently or even not done at all.
Great insight we all need to remember
Hi Lee!
As an eLearning Consultant I've seen many projects die or at the very least involve major frustration because ownership was not TAKEN.
There is nothing worse than an client that wants to be the editor, the videographer, the interface designer, and on, and on.
I wish you limited ownership frustrations in your continued success with CommonCraft. I love your work and hearing about the behind the scenes is an added bonus.
Cheers!
Brent
Producer autonomy, not ownership, is the essence
I believe what you are referring to as 'ownership' is the autonomy of the specialist in the production process (or the autonomy of the producer, for short, if you look at tasks in isolation from each other). Surely the term 'ownership' should be reserved for those who legally own the means of production and/or who have ownership of the product and/or the intellectual property rights to the ideas, depending on the existence, nature, and details of the contract. It appears you want to frame the production process as an open, win-win partnership, but what is the use of doing it in a way that involves pretending that the expertise of the specialist can, by itself, turn miraculously into a form of ownership that transcends the historical, legal principles of private property? Professionals who have expertise and who do not own the means of production of their expertise ought to work towards the autonomy of their specialization, to be sure, but in the real world this can only be secured by their struggling to form professional associations and unions that are prepared to act to go on strike if their demands for autonomy are not met.
This thought connected with my world
Hi Lee,
A similar concept of ownership has been present in me for a long while now in several different situations.... a thing i wrestle with alot lately is that 'discussion' or the word I like better 'dialogue', for me, becomes a means to develop, grow in understanding of individual and group goals. A space to discover possibilities. Creative measures to encourage that are what intrigue and interest me.
That more often than not takes SOOOO much time. And I love that truely magic moment when 'ownership' happens for individuals loosely or perhaps formerly operating together in group. It is that place when action begins as I see it. The rapid culture of lives and society today informs me that figuring out how to get there in any given situation becomes and art worth pursuing.
The reminder that ownership has a element of figuring out your actions and starting and removing that burden of discussing or checking each step..... step out and try is the message i took from your words. Own it - decisions, results , outcomes your part.
Keep up the Kewl work! Just discovered some of your stuff today via one of my igoogle RSS feeds.
Will
Lee said...The lesson here? Ownership = efficiency, for us at least. Ownership mean understanding the goal and having the confidence to make independent decisions that contribute to it. It means not wasting time discussing every step along the way. It means getting work done quickly so that it can be evaluated as a whole. It means being accountable and ready to stand up for why we made the decisions we did.
Ownership, Rand, Death By Numbers
There is nothing worse than working with people who don't know what they want, and as a consequence expect endless iterations, concepts, revisions. It's these same people - the one's that don't know what they're after - that will ironically try to control the entire process most and become, as Brent says, editor, videographer, designer.
So it amused me to watch an old Steve Jobs interview about working with designer Paul Rand. Jobs is famous for being one tough SOB to work for, and yet when he asked Rand if he could have multiple logo options Rand replied that no he couldn't. That he was being hired to solve a problem, and he would do that. And if Jobs didn't like his solution, he didn't need to use it, but would pay for it anyway.
In The Politics of Design Rand writes:
I think what it comes down to is this - ownership, and who owns which parts of the process need to be made very explicit. As a designer/videographer you're being hired for your communication skills. Your ability to ask the right questions, and then go away and make something that solves a communication problem for your client.
Hiring a designer is (or *should be*) like hiring a mechanic, a shrink, or a personal trainer - you have a problem, they work out what that is for you and propose a course of action, you agree to that course of action, and then... you let them do their job.
Mechanics don't let you lean over their shoulder and recommend which spanner to use. Shrinks aren't going to swap seats with you half way through. Personal trainers aren't going to do your chin ups for you. And if you're the expert here, why are you hiring them?
So yes to collaboration, yes to dialog, yes to nailing that problem early on and coming up with a great fix for it. But like you say, at the end of the day, if people aren't willing to take ownership, and let you do the same, things are going to get messy, and get frustrating fast.
End rant.
Thanks Michael
Thanks for taking the time man. I really like this comment. We've been talking a lot about project work lately and how we can be more effective. Ownership is part of it - being very clear in the beginning on who owns what and why. When ownership is explicit, it's easier to keep moving because the ball is obviously in someone's court. The best projects are ones where both sides are working to complete their part and get it back to the other side with what is needed to proceed.
Thanks
Agree with you totally, and the bigger the company, the slower and less agile it is in turning around queries, getting decisions rubber stamped, and making things happen. Hence the even greater need for autonomy even from a purely scheduling based point of view.
Your Post about "Own it"
You are the most recent proof of something that Robert Townsend said in his book "Up the Orgainzation" now nearly 40 years ago, and I am sure it has been said for centuries.
Not taking ownership of the decisions or putting people in charge without decision-making powers is the surest way to kill a project.
Hmmm, didn't Dilbert just do that this week?
Nice post and blog.
Own it
I wish you limited ownership frustrations in your continued success with CommonCraft. I love your work and hearing about the behind the scenes is an added bonus.
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