A simple answer to a difficult question, part 2: Workflow



    As the most ingenious of you have already understood, this is a continuation of my previous article on procrastination in work. And for those who have just joined us, I would recommend that you first read the first part, because otherwise, my thoughts will look for you simply not substantiated. By the way, now the title of the article is not 100 percent true, for the simple answer was only in the first part, but this miracle will not happen. And in general, the article turned out to be so long that I can only hope for your patience.

    It is interesting!


    Let me briefly summarize the content of the first article and highlight the following conclusion:
    Interest is the king of motivation . Everything else, including monetary motivation, is pawns. Someone will say that money sometimes strongly motivated him to do something - to which I will answer that pawns sometimes make strong moves. But when you have a more or less stable cash flow, the game changes and you need something more powerful to combat procrastination. And it is precisely His Majesty's Interest.

    If you ask for a definition of interest in Wikipedia, you can find the following opinion there:
    This is a feeling of captivity, enchantment, curiosity. An individual experiencing this emotion has a desire to explore, intervene, expand experience by including new information and take a fresh approach to an object that arouses interest. With intense interest, a person feels inspired and lively. It is this revitalization that provides a connection with cognitive and motor activity.
    Have you heard? For the cha-ro-van-no-sti. Captures! This is what is sometimes so lacking in work! This is how interest differs from money, long-term goals and other mundane things.

    Introduction to Processes


    So, returning to our problem with working procrastination, I immediately want to upset everyone who suggested that the following statements are true, provided that you have been working in this direction for several days:
    - I do not work, because I chose the wrong one area of ​​activity
    - I don’t have work, because the project is not interesting
    - I don’t have work, because the material with which I have to work is poor

    Yes, there are boring projects. Yes, there is bad material to work on. And yes, perhaps in something else, you would have achieved great success. But all these problems are just an allergy to the skin that you experience when overeating nut paste. The real problem: The crisis of your workflow.

    Usually no one thinks about the workflow. We consider this a concern of managers, managers, eychars, gentlemen of God, but not ours. It often seems to freelancers that they don’t have any processes and these are the terms of some mythical “big companies”. But it was not there!

    If you work, perform systematic activities, you have your own personal workflow. Then a workflow arises between you and the customer \ manager. There is a specific workflow between you and every other team member. And the more people in the team - the more the number of processes between them increases. And only in the end - it forms a common, global worker, not even a production process - which is already the concern of higher ranks (there is no one to transfer freelancers to, they are managers themselves). And now clearly:

    Typical Workflows


    Since I myself am more involved in design, I will describe typical design workflows. It all starts with the fact that the customer (whether it’s internal (in the person of the manager) or external) throws off the TK designer. Or fill out some brief. The designer asks typical questions: is there a corporate identity? what are your wishes for colors? Then he says “okay! will be in three days, ”Photoshop opens, and is trying to figure something out of what is. He comes up with a couple of ideas, tries a couple of options, chooses the best one and sends it to the customer for approval. He receives corrections for the project, becomes depressed , completes what he requires and exhales calmly.

    Just imagine if there was such a “fascinating” gameplay in any game. Would she have at least one fan? That's the same. Now look at how you work and try to imagine what kind of game would have come out of it.

    How to build your workflows so that it is interesting? Let's move on to practical tips. The ones that usually help me. Getting started!

    Tip 1: Accept Your Projects


    First of all, stop separating your projects from yourself. This project ceases to be a project of the customer from the moment he transfers the care of him to you. Now this is your personal project.

    If good and interesting projects are so dragging you on and you can easily become part of them, then things are completely different with the curves and the boring ones, or just the ones that the soul doesn’t lie to.

    You can compare them with the old house, which suddenly you got from the late rich uncle. Yes, the project was not chosen by you, but the layout is not the same as you would have done, but in the corners of the web, and the furniture is tasteless. But this is better than nothing. And you move there. Now you are the rightful owner of this house. And although the first time, it will seem strange to you, unpleasant, rejecting, find the strength to look at it better, give it a chance and you will understand that it is yours at the moment - you have to take care of it, for your own sake benefits.

    When it becomes clear that you will not see any other housing in the near future, the first thought will be to demolish everything to hell with a rumbling bulldozer and rebuild it, but then you will realize that Uncle the Customer almost left no money for you. Yes, and it’s time for you to settle down in one of the bedrooms of this shabby structure with your mattress, since the landlady of the apartment you are renting is already threatening you with terrible reprisal if you do not leave right away!


    And then the real magic begins: you are left alone with your house and the need to somehow live in it, limited in funds and time. What will you do? That's right - start equipping it as close to your ideals as you have enough resources. And after the first small successes, you will notice that a light of enthusiasm lights up in you! You say to yourself: yes, this house is just a nightmare! but this is my house! and I will make it better for myself! And now, part of the trash was taken out, and the brand-new furniture is surprisingly well combined with unpainted, tattered walls. And even uncle stuffed owl fit perfectly into the new interior.

    Of course, you are unlikely to have time to finish everything to the end. Somewhere old decoration or furniture will remain. But believe me, you will not pay attention to it. You will like the result. And I know what I'm talking about, because once moved to his apartment in a similar way, making repairs with his own hands, in a terrible hurry.

    That is - in such projects it will not work to remake everything from scratch, maximum - you can convince team members to fix the most critical places. Next, you must take the limited resources that you have and do the maximum possible with them. Soon you will get used to this project and it will completely become close to you, yours. And although it will be difficult for you to make other people do something, everything that concerns your part - you will bring it to perfection. You will be disturbed. People and circumstances. And lack of resources, of course. But separating the project from the customer and accepting it as yours, you will steadily bend your line. The main thing is not to try to change circumstances, expand restrictions, increase resources or put pressure on other participants - but act in all this given as efficiently as possible.

    So, back to the game examples. Our example is a construction simulator. Your past processes in it most likely looked like this: for a long time you gruelingly choose a game card, turning your nose away from one and the other, then not finding anything that you would like, choose the simplest one, and start the game. The gameplay consists in the fact that you are constantly discussing with various characters, squeezing out from them those decisions that would favorably affect your construction. And also you endlessly try to expand the starting game resources, which naturally, it doesn’t work out for you, because they are firmly recorded in the map. And the construction site ... What is the construction site? Construction does not interest you. As a result, the “Mission Failed.” Screen will meet you. Try again? ”

    What should really happen:

    You no longer deal with a long choice of cards - any conditions, any challenge is interesting to you, this is a chance to prove yourself. Moreover - you start to like limited, complex projects. You understand that starting resources cannot be changed, but this makes you more interesting, because there are no games without rules. You are engaged in construction, looking for optimal solutions in the conditions that you have. And you achieve a result that pleases you, take a screenshot and put it in the photo album. Your processes at this stage have become completely different.

    All! The focus is very simple and you already own it.

    Tip 2: Get Started Right




    Since we have decided on whose project this is, it is now obvious who should set the tasks at the stage of your work. What could be more boring than reading someone else's TK or briefs? This beats off interest from the start! Understand that your work begins much earlier than you begin your typical duties. Your customer most likely does not understand the specifics of your work, and even if he understands (technical director, for example), he certainly thinks not identical to you. Therefore, you need to start working out your TK on your own. And even such a formal stage can be exciting for you! And at the same time, it will help you easier to accept the project as your own.

    This is a research process. And you don’t know what can await you here, because even in the most boring project, you can dig out something interesting for yourself. Any small detail or task that you wanted to do for so long, but there was no suitable project. Imagine that the customer does not exist. You are free to do whatever you want with this material. What would you do? Form your vision of the project - whatever you like. It is interesting. Moreover, your vision can be much broader than the vision of the customer. Do not limit yourself. If the project, for example, is about guitars - and you see how it expands to all instruments - you cannot be silent. If the idea of ​​guitars being perfected in your head becomes the idea of ​​percussion, you cannot be silent.

    Sometimes you can change the project beyond recognition even at the stage of TK formation and the next stages will become more interesting on their own - you will realize your plans and ideas. Do not be afraid that your ideas will not be accepted or disagree with you - your vision will change in the process, connecting with the opinions of other team members, merging into the natural process of forming a collective product. But you will have your own vision, and not the dry TK of someone else's project. Sometimes it may happen that you propose cool things, but at the moment there will be no resources for them (we return to the situation from the first tip) - accept this as the conditions of the game and look for other ideas, although it is possible for the customer to offer you to implement those functions later, what did you come up with. Thus, you develop the project and provide yourself with a reputation as a person who cares,

    There is no need to snatch the reins of government from someone who is firmly entrenched in setting goals and writing TK. If this happens, then just connect to the process as much as you can. Just share your thoughts and ask. Influence the situation as much as possible.

    Tip 3: Communicate



    What's the coolest thing about garage startups? That's right - freedom of expression. The programmer does as he sees. The designer comes up with what he wants. This is free creativity, shoulder to shoulder. And through endless discussions, sifting out ideas and versions, disputes - you get a whole, healthy product.

    It is not known where all this disappears when the company grows. But your task is to return yourself to a startup state. Most of the other team members with whom you work directly are likely to pick up this behavior from you - you will be on the same wavelength.

    Those who sit in silence do their job - and then give the final result to the public, they play chess with themselves. And this, you see, is pretty boring. Much more interesting is multiplayer.Remember that there is no ideal implementation - and boldly roll out everything you do for comment. This feedback is vital for you. Make your work live - don't be afraid of discussions and disputes. Argue on a can of cola with a layout designer that you finish pulling the layout onto the engine by the end of the day. Have fun.

    Moreover, a product made in one head is initially dysfunctional and too subjective. Do not be afraid to let someone into your world, in any case, you can always reasonably reject his opinion - as they reject yours. It is normal practice to throw unsuccessful drafts into the bin.

    The product - “suffered” in disputes and discussions - is a healthy product. Thus, a new game cycle appears in your gameplay - communication.

    Tip 4: Use the task list and version history


    Use some Basecamp to set tasks and keep a chronology of versions. These things are needed not only for their obvious application, but also for what you would see the development of your project. Traffic. Progress. So that you can note for yourself what you have done. It supports you morally, helps interest not to fade away. You evaluate your work, look at what happened yesterday and today, and you are surprised how cool your forces have changed. You should clearly see the results of your actions as if you were playing a game.

    Tip 5: Experiment


    Engage in your main task no more than 80% of the time. Spend the rest on experiments within the project. Free creativity. To experiment is fun, it develops. Then you can always show their results to team members / customer, maybe they will appreciate it and it will even be included in the release. You can generally create a separate list for experiments in which to write down all the ideas that you can experience in the project.

    Conclusion


    All in all, you must break out of the scope of your standard workflows. Do not stay alone with your toolkit for more than 60% of the time, and spend part of it in communication with colleagues in the dining room or skype, in the smoking room or basecamp - it does not matter. You need to experiment to be free in your work. You need to clearly see your results and you must turn other people's projects into your own. And this is just what my imagination lacks. You can invent and build your work the way you want. The main thing is that you are interested.

    for errors in drugs I will be very grateful

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