I still dig the monome

I haven’t written much about it recently, but I still really dig the monome.

monome at moma from tehn on Vimeo.

Context sensitive to-do list

Artists tend to get the reputation of being forever forgetful. I’m under the conviction that we as Christ followers should manage our time well and use that resource to His glory. And with that, here’s a tool I learned years ago that may help you.

The context sensitive to-do list.

I recommend that your to-do lists be based on your current context. If you are at work, don’t have a list of chores for the house. If you have a bunch of things to tell your boss don’t have it piled in with things you need to talk to your teammates about. The context sensitive to-do groups information so that you are reminded at the right time to do the right thing.

I lead a team of artists, and I report to a boss, so my lists look like this:

• 01-Home
• 02-Work
• 03-Boss
• 04-Team
• 05-Creativity meeting
• 06-backlog
• 07-Grocery

List 1 is for things I need to take care around the house and in my personal life. Fix the drain, return the DVDs, etc. List 2 is for things I personally need to do in my job. Projects, tasks. I don’t open up my 02-Work list at home unless I remembered something that needs to happen in the office tomorrow. I add the task, and know that it will be waiting there for me when I can do something about it.

List 3 and 4 are my communications lists. 03-Boss contain items I need to discuss with my boss. We have a standing weekly meeting so I’ll reserve things until then to talk about unless they’re time sensitive. If anyone on my team wants me to mention sometime, if I want to brag to him about one of my team members I’ll jot it down when the thought hits me, assured that I’ll do it when I have his attention. List 4 is the same, anything I need to communicate to someone on my team goes here. This list is noted with the person’s name as such:

“Bob – Make an awesome video due:2 weeks” so that the person’s name is the first thing I see. I even include things for the entire team to share at our team meeting; “All – Read some awesome books due:1 month”

List 5 contains items I’d need to bring up in our creativity / service planning meeting. Again, best not to bother people with a question if I know I’ll see them in person at a certain time and can get a better answer. Unless it’s time sensitive I’ll hold the question here.

List 6 is for those tasks that don’t fit elsewhere, but I don’t want to forget. Having a back burner space allows me the freedom to keep my other lists very focused. And list 7… well, I don’t walk to forget the milk or that jumbo bag of Reese’s when I get to the store.

Have as few lists as necessary, and tailor them so you don’t drop information. Look at your week and look for your information interchanges. Maybe you have a weekly meeting with volunteers and don’t want to forget to tell them some things. Create a “Volunteer Meeting” list to hold all those thoughts until the right time.

This works regardless of your personal favorite to-do list application. Maybe it’s a note card. Maybe it’s Google Tasks. Maybe it’s one of 1,000 iOS apps… it’s not the specific application but how you use it. (But personally, I’m a huge Remember the Milk fan)

Project File Organization

It is essential for creatives to maintain discipline when working on projects. First, it allows you to be more productive and use your resource of time more effectively. Second, if there is any sort of collaboration it’s essential to organize something logically to save copious amounts of time.

“Where is (file x, or project y)?”
“It’s in the logical place, of course.”

I’ve heard that conversation more than once, which is why we try to organize all of our media projects similarly. It makes it easy to pick up after someone with less fuss and time wasted. Each team member may have a slight variation and that’s OK, it just needs to be close and have a logical structure. How to I personally organize my media? (click for larger image)

In general, most projects are structured like this. Under the Project name are five folders.

Assets
This is where the “stuff goes,” and depending on the complexity of the project, may include subfolders. The “stuff” includes video footage, stock artwork, textures, fonts (if the project is to be shared or archived), and music or audio. Purchase a voice over? Put it in Assets. Buy images from iStockPhoto? Put it in Assets.

Finals
The final rendered videos go here.

Inspiration
This folder isn’t always necessary, but if there are some specific inspiration pieces that need to accompany the project (clips of video, some still images, whatever) there’s a place for it to live.

Projects
This is our master working folder. Every major project file lives here including After Effects files, Final Cut Pro files, potentially a Photoshop document (if it’s a major part of the work).

Renders
A folder for all rendered elements. Render a piece of video from After Effects that is headed to Final Cut? This is the place for that. If I’m working in Cinema 4D I’ll create subfolders under this render folder for each TIFF sequence.

So that’s it. Nothing fancy, just practical project organization. I follow this 90% of the time. Don’t let the system rule you, but let it help you.

Archie Pelago

Nice groove from Archie Pelago. It’s a creative blend of DJ, looping, and organic sounds.

Hagrid and “the coolest inventor”

This past week I traveled to Chicago with a few guys from NewSpring to attend the Story conference. You may remember in my previous travels I routinely take along a travel buddy, assigned by my son, and use this object to document the trip. This time my daughter sent along Hagrid to join the trip. G’s contribution was a dude he refers to as “the coolest inventor.” As I’m on the road I send them quick snapshots of what I’m seeing. So much fun. Here are my favorites.