How Airtable saved my life as a craft passionate
Are you one of these people who struggle having too many ideas that get lost spatiotemporally and cry over stagnation?
An idea, two ideas, three ideas… You get the idea
An idea is just an idea. Everyone has ideas. It has no real value by itself. To appraise an idea you need to do more than just have it wandering in your head. You need to structure it so it becomes a project. Then the ultimate goal of a project is to release the consumable form of the idea: a product.
For a single person, it is quite a challenge to process many ideas into products, mostly when it is done through side projects. Having a video game released, writing an article and producing a fictional podcast altogether is doable. But doing it all by yourself, it is less likely to happen:
It takes time
Motivation is tested
Skills are limited
It also happened to you, right?
This is why collaborators come handy. They throw in some time, they boost your motivation and they bring their skills. Unfortunately, those people available to work on your ideas are pretty rare. Nonetheless, until you find the right experts to work with, you can make something out of this kind of situation. Because your brain can’t afford to wait. He wants to craft and stagnant projects kill him. Fortunately, there is a fix.
Classifying everything
First, you need to turn one idea into a project. You need a minimum of commitment. All it needs at the beginning and for the long run is the proper structure, because each type has its own.
Airtable lets you structure effortlessly a document in which you can insert and link data in related spreadsheets in a user friendly approach.
Spreadsheet! Scary right?
Trust me, I always hated spreadsheet until I found Airtable: it really helps clearing your mind around new concepts, it is perfect for collaboration since it is sharable, it links every information in a very efficient way and it lets you create multiple documents for free. All you need to do is to build the proper structure per project type to receive carefully your flow of ideas.
Suited for slow crafting
The slow movement suggests that you take all the time you need to do something. The flow of thoughts is something you need to control, not force brutally. It does not matter if you have a fresh spark of an idea for a specific side project in six days or six months. But you need to write it down somewhere it won’t get lost. Your Airtable project related document is there waiting for you like a good dog. All you should really care about is slowly connecting the dots around your idea in a structured way. Because the more time you take to create the foundation, the more solid will be whole work. And luckily, you can start crafting slowly many foundation at once.
Nothing is stronger than an idea whose time has come.
— Victor Hugo
Everything is about timing I believe. Try cultivating patience and motivation by working slowly on ideas that motivate you even though you are alone, even though you have no collaborators around to help you out. Let your projects grow in you. All the work is safe until the time to release them comes.
Reuse your documents
Agility teaches many things. One of these would be the reusability of everything we craft. A simple game design document you worked on can be used for another project, whether for its data or its structure. Reusing a well structured Airtable document for a new project of the same type can save a considerable amount of time and effort. Save your energy and creativity on new aspects.
Final thoughts
The real benefit with Airtable is that I learned so much by structuring my ideas, turning them into serious projects and releasing products. I also feel no pressure whatsoever and I never had that many healthy and ongoing projects at the same time. The chaos at the beginning is considerably diminished, which gives each project a better chance of surviving while leaving room for quality time invested in production.
More about slow agility
There is a working paradoxal system I suggest for people like us, bringing the slow movement and agility together. Please feel free to read my previous story if you like the philosophy behind this article.
