Tag: project management

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thebyrchentwigges:

lakidaa:

prokopetz:

The reason you’re great at one-off compositions but can’t put a long-form comic or animation together to save your life isn’t because you’re a lousy artist, it’s because you’re a lousy project manager.

I know that doesn’t sound particularly positive, but you’d be astounded how many artists I’ve run into who are literally unaware that project management is a) a totally separate skill set from being Good At Art, and b) something you actually have to learn – they think that people are just intrinsically good or bad at doing long-form projects and that’s all there is to it.

Correctly identifying what it is that you suck at is the first step to improving!

Oh yeah def. is there a book or anything you can suggest for learning how to do project management?

This piece on Project Management for Writers by Stephan Macelroy is excellent!

From my POV, project management for big creative projects comes down to four things:

  1. Have a plan. Plan from start to finish. That means as complete an outline as you can create. Knowing your ending helps you finish.
  2. Have infrastructure that helps you create. This goes back to Virginia Woolf’s A Room of One’s Own. Space, tools, time, childcare/eldercare, quiet.
  3. Ass. In. Chair. Sit down and work whether you feel super-inspired or not.
  4. Have goals around the project. “Get this done by Thanksgiving so I can enjoy the holidays,” “Have this out there by July 10th for the summer reading audience,” “Complete this…for VENGEANCE.” Those sorts of goals.

These four things aren’t specific to any creative area.
Whichever one of these makes you go “But, but, but…” is a good one to work on!