Firefighting

There’s no better work-based feeling when you’re stood behind a coffee bar on a cold winter’s day with a queue out the door, the café full, you’re running out of paper cups, the dishwasher’s broken & the team still need to take their break.

You’re fighting fires constantly. And it’s fun.

You need to plan for the unexpected and it’s your experience and knowledge of the situations that account for it.

There will never be a perfect production unless you’re not aiming high enough and doing exactly what it says on the tin. As with most creative endeavors, the rules aren’t yet written. The path is untrodden ground.

When it comes to production, you should measure what matters and track as many variables you feel creates proper planning.

But there will come a time when you’re running out of time, there’s not enough budget, you still have X features to implement but you can only implement 1/2 X and the responsible team member is moving house and can’t be available.

You need to leave your doors open for this chaos. Plan for it during the day. You don’t know in the morning what is about to catch fire, but you know there’s enough dry material out there that something will.

When these fires inevitably break free, make sure you have a cut off point, a way to kill the oxygen.

Some fires are in high risk areas and need prioritising. Some will burn out if you leave them.

Firefighting can be fun, but install the fire doors. Open them when you’ve completed your 5 HV tasks for the day.

But know when to shut them before they consume you and cause you to burn out. You need the stamina to keep fighting the unknown fires on the horizon rather than wearing yourself thin on the first fire.

All creative projects need that rush and infusion of heat so don’t be too overly cautious when it comes to creativity as to not let spontaneous ideas ignite the team.