The Power of Process

Artists, myself included, like to think we’re different. 

I’m not like other people that have to do boring processes and follow silly rules and systems. What I do just comes naturally to me, I feel it and know it’s right. 

Cool. Also, wildly inaccurate. 

When I came to Diagonal Media there were a lot of processes I had to learn. In the years before I got there the team developed a system that kept people in sync and guidelines to ensure quality. There was a way of doing things here, and to be honest, I didn’t like it very much. 

I thought these systems stifled creativity. If you’re just telling people how to go about doing things, how are they supposed to develop agency and be creative? 

I wasn’t seeing these systems for their intended purpose. It wasn’t until our COO, Garrett told me something that finally helped it all make sense. 

He said, and I’m paraphrasing, of course, “when we put processes in place to get the routine fundamentals down quickly, we can open our team up to have more time for creative, boundary-pushing work.”

Here are some ways process can be a powerful tool for creative teams, so we can get to the good stuff, faster. 

When Systems Make Sense

Creating a great video isn’t black and white. There are 1,000 ways you can go about telling the same story, from various points of view. But when you’re faced with where to start, having a step one can ease some of the anxiety of a big project. 

For example, we use the same template library in Final Cut Pro for each project we edit. This allows us to stay organized and share edits across team members with different strengths. By systematizing this, we give editors a jumping off point for each project, so they don’t have to spend brain power reinventing the wheel with each edit. 

A Word of Caution 

Learn to spot the difference between efficient systems with purpose and someone who is trying to stifle your POV. Here are some things to look out for: 

  • If they can’t clearly explain why their process is beneficial other than, “this is just the way it is.” People should want to teach you why, not just have you follow blindly. 
  • If they tell you your way of doing things is simply “wrong” without hearing you out for your choices or motivations. If there’s a smarter idea out there, they should be open to hearing about it.  

Efficiencies Power Creativity

When leading creative teams, I’ve come to understand that nothing drains people quite like redundancies and systems that don’t work properly. Trying to guess at what your boss or client wants is a cycle that leads to burnout and frustration. A clear understanding of the objective of the project, allows team members to get on board and feel a sense of agency over the narrative. 

We focus on creative iteration to make each edit better than the last. Any editor can tell you that it’s in the third or fourth pass when things get really good. All those micro-changes start to click together and the thing you hoped you would get to (and at times thought would never happen) starts to appear. 

You can see it! 

It’s a beautiful thing. I hope every profession has an equivalent to this feeling. 

It’s when you get to this point, when everything starts to make sense, that those boundary-pushing moments happen. This is the moment when you try something you’ve never tried before. Creating systems and understanding processes helps the team get here faster, less fatigued and with an appetite for risk.

Creativity Necessitates Risk 

If you don’t take risks in creative agencies, you die. 

Okay, you don’t actually die.

But the work is no longer competitive, and in a creative space that’s a bad place to be. These programs and processes get our teams to a place where we can take risks and try new things. 

I love the phrase, “sometimes you have to throw spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.” But in order to get to that creative-driven-spaghetti-throwing-stage you have to: 

  1. Add water to a large pot
  2. Salt the water
  3. Bring the water to a boil 
  4. Add spaghetti
  5. Boil for 7-11 minutes
  6. Throw spaghetti at the wall – if it sticks to the wall – it’s done! 

Then you can throw that spaghetti every which way and see where you land, and it might be somewhere excellent.

– Leslie Cunningham
DGNL Supervising Producer, Branded Content Lead