Super Good Advice (for when you’re getting a bit stuck on a project)
I recently gave a talk as part of Digital Bristol Week called ‘Making it Happen: Turning good ideas in to great projects’
As ever, it was nice to be asked. I chatted with the organisers about what they wanted — something about the difficult bit of projects, or maybe about how to get over problems, or... In the end, the description we settled on was this:
“Kim will talk about the process of taking nebulous, messy ideas and turning them into successful projects. She’ll share tools and techniques for overcoming the obstacles between vision and reality, in order to breathe life into brilliant ideas.”
…and then they told me that my session had been the first to sell out, and everyone was super excited, so I panicked.
I have, to my genuine surprise, a reputation for being good at my job — I’m a kind of one-person freelance producer/ux strategist/product manager/project manager kind of thing in the digital/multi-platform/cultural space. I’ve been making digital projects for over 15 years, yet internally I’m still a mess of anxiety, impostor syndrome and epic procrastination on every project.
Same as all of us, right?
Before the workshop I was staring in to keynote, trying to work out what on earth I was going to say that people would find useful. Should I talk about intensely practical things like schedules and budgets, or would that bore the pants off people? Should I work from case studies of things that have gone well? What about things that have gone spectacularly badly? Which bits of my knowledge are up to date? What is it I actually do again?
I wondered — perhaps it’s that my particular set of coping strategies are actually useful when it comes to helping out other people, or running projects? What if all of us have tips and approaches that we think are us making up for our imagined deficiencies, but are actually useful tools that everyone should know about?
So, dear reader, in yet another display of procrastination, I asked people on twitter.
What came back was a list of advice from some of the best creative technologists and digital types I know. The tips are wise, to the point, and seem to cluster around themes: ask questions, talk more about problems in the team, find ways to stay flexible.
It worked so well, that I decided to incorporate the question as a way of starting the workshop— as we started out, we introduced ourselves with our favourite bit of advice, scrawled quickly on a post-it.
My twitter procrastination eventually unlocked my block, and I finished the structure of my session about 10 minutes before pulling in to Bristol Temple Meads on the day. Further down you’ll find advice submitted by attendees at the Digital Bristol Development day workshops — but here is all of the advice collected. I’d like to hear yours, too. Do comment, or find me on twitter, to add yours.
I kicked off with my first piece of advice: it’s OK not to know. Ask a dumb question, ask for advice. It keeps you making progress, and makes everyone feel more comfortable. Because someone who claims to have all the solutions is almost certainly full of shit; ideas like company; and people like contributing.
I warn people at the start of projects that I’ll probably keep asking ‘but why?’ like a child, again and again. @DeanVipond
Get as many people involved at the start of a project as possible. No one likes feeling left out …it also gives you a chance to appraise the dynamics and tensions of the group, or your team. @DeanVipond
I tend to brief new-comers, too. @adamamyl
Don’t forget that people who’ve been on a project for a while have a huge set of assumptions/body of knowledge…
Best creative focus tip, from Twyla Tharp: take the change out of your pocket. Move it until it’s aesthetically pleasing. I don’t know why it works but it moves your brain to a space where you judge and alter your work rapidly and intuitively. From this book: The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It For Life “Eventually, I land on an arrangement that feels like a musical chord resolving” @garethbriggs
Make it smaller, faster, easier or cheaper. People get really energetic when they’re asked to make something easier. We sometimes say at the end of a workshop “What could you do in one hour or with £10?” @matlock
Don’t waste time defining things. Gets you in the wrong mindset. Takes up all the energy. It’s mostly bikeshedding. Goals/objectives fair enough. But too many things get bogged down in ‘what exactly do we mean by (e.g.) digital’? Too much defining puts you in a box you can’t escape. Postpone your defining until you’ve explored the domain.
russell davies (on his private account)
Avoid things that look like lists. Boards work better. They suggest flexibility, that things aren’t set in stone. @willbeeps
An e-mail home to their parents usually helps. Might not work in your context. @alby (NB Alby is a Physics teacher.)
@alby I used to fax Nigella to get John Diamond (RIP) to submit his copy. Worked. @adambanksdotcom
Start with the smallest achievable task. Not the one with the biggest reward, the one will feel like you won. It’s the creative equivalent of making your bed in the morning. Before you know it, you’re facing the day. @cliff
(I know it sounds trite, banal, but:) don’t end any project meeting without quickly defining/assigning action points. @chrisphin
The only thing that works for me is to separate the “what should I do?” from the “do it”. Make huge list, plough through. (As in, spend time making ideas in to actions? Or dividing time to think and time to do?) Mostly the former. Always thinking, but need separate time to decide what the actions should be & how they fit the ideas. @TomStuart
Talking through problems. Working out why they exist and how best to deal with them. Also, diagrams over words. @adamamyl
Work out what’s important and to whom? ‘Important to business’ is often different to ‘important to user’ @ToastMaster
If it’s something with lots of naysayers or known issues or big questions, get them out at the start of a creative session. Otherwise some won’t be listening or contributing just waiting for an in to say “yeah but it’s shit/the problem is…” etc. @louby
Going through a manifesto process with all stakeholders gets everything out in the open and gives a reference point @MarthaSadie
Get everyone together: ask what is original goal/vision and are we on track? A quick reminder of the Why? helps to refocus the team and helps us all feel better too (or not!) @rifa
1. Questions that need answering are more useful than goals — goals stretch up, questions focus down.
2. “Why” is often the least useful of all the questions.
3. My best work has come from the best briefs. Frequently, that brief is not something I got given up front … but something I built throughout the course of the project until, about 2/3 through, we had to land the plane.
4. I have no idea how this works with teams.
5. WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN. I have frequently seen the direction emerge by looking back at (e.g.) weeknotes. “This project feels directionless” / “Oh, wait, there’s been a path and I just needed to see it from above”.
6. If in doubt, move towards certainty. What’s the next thing to derisk, or understand an issue? Like, if what you really need to work something out is a one hour demo, you should build that. If half an hour with real data would tell you more than a day of guessdesigning, do it! But similarly, if the thing that would give certainty is a conversation, or qual research, or a day playing: do that! @Tom_Armitage
I find writing all the concepts involved on blank playing cards and the shuffling them around into categories helpful. Similar idea: write a dictionary of all the ‘terms of art’ involved in the project. But the most difficult thing for me is accepting that conversations that don’t go anywhere are prerequisite for those that do. @Jimmytidey
My real answer is ‘back to the drawing board’, literally. Big sheet of paper, or a sketching app. Draw problems. @tkingdoll
Change Your Scenery
Don’t forget to enjoy it!
Take a break.
Take yourself away — meditate.
Go for a walk round the block then draw a spider diagram of project with pen and paper.
Use post-it notes (or pen and paper) — get away from always being digital and on social media.
Buy a new pair of socks — it gets you offline.
Walk Home — it gives you time to think and remove yourself from the problem
Externalise It
Write it down!
Pause. Get together and get it all on paper -> out of your head.
Brainstorm with a piece of paper.
Get it down on post-its or mind map — you see connections + patterns and dependencies.
Mindmapping. GRASP. Appreciate your instincts. Follow your thinking curves. Don’t listen to self-doubt. Ask lots of questions. Share your idea. Prototype.
Create to-do lists to plan out development.
Write a detailed plan and get it approved by all.
Visualise the project workflow.
Do the hard bit first.
Prototype.
Share It
Talk to people.
Talk to each other — why? Expertise from experts bouncing off from each other = shared burden.
Keep chatting with any people involved.
Communication — with other creative people.
If you can, throw it open — don’t feel /or put yourself under pressure — get other minds on it!
Talk things through with colleagues, honestly.
Share problems with a trusted expert.
Talk it out.
Allow flexibility to be built in to a project at the start. Makes problem solving easier later on
It’s the word to always have in mind — “Possible” — keeps me thinking, moving forward. Refusing to accept that there isn’t a solution.
Don’t do it alone.
Keep it serious fun!
Thanks to Katherine Jewkes and the Digital Bristol Week team for the chance to gather so many good tips. You can also see the original slides for the workshop if you’re interested in what we went on to do on the day. There are also instructions for the experience map section of the workshop and a useful checklist / prompt list of tasks and phases for digital projects created by my students on the NFTS Producing Digital Content and Formats course.
