Best practices in production/improving efficiency?

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Permalink Reply by Alex Hambleton on November 24, 2008 at 9:11am

Rachel,

How many days is the cycle running now? Do you access to additional capital to change the system? Every system can be tweaked to operate better where do you think the biggest area of change is needed?

Alex

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Permalink Reply by Perry Glasser on December 15, 2008 at 8:40pm

Hi Rachel:

This has gone unanswered a long time, so as the resident village idiot, let me give it a try.

Hire a staff of people you trust. Define roles that fit individual expertise. Enforce a system of "touch once and pass."

A production staff that works with copy/files/pdfs going back and forth is spending more time negotiating than producing. Back-and-forth a good model for teaching, but has no place in a business. If there is a weak link in your process, the first obligation is to help that person perform, and that is often the role of the M.E., or in a small trade, probably the EiC. If after some effort the weak link is still wink--fire 'em and hire someone that can either be trained or already has the chops.

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Convertito on December 17, 2008 at 7:20pm

sounds pretty efficient as is, tho if someone on staff routinely has major changes at the PDF review stage you may want to consider getting them involved earlier in the design process...or get them less-involved altogether ;)

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Permalink Reply by Rachel Globus on December 17, 2008 at 7:23pm

Thanks to everyone who responded. I think you're onto something...

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Permalink Reply by David Cardillo on December 18, 2008 at 11:09pm

Collaboration yes, committee no. That is, get pertinent people (editors, designers, photo) involved at the planning stage, then let everyone do their job.

Things also tend to get done in stages, or sections. Are you compiling the whole book, submitting it at once for review? A designer can work on a couple layouts, then move on to others while the first ones are being reviewed. When we release pages for press, it's usually over the course of two weeks (or longer), not compiled and sent out at once. Staggering it prevents the 48-hour workday at the end of the production cycle (or at least it attempts to).

The designers typically work on their assigned sections/stories and submit options to the creative director for preliminary approval.

Senior staff usually get a top-down overview ("the wall") and discuss layout and art options, while at the same time edited manuscripts are circulating. When type is final and layouts are approved, it's my job to marry them together. If everyone collaborated successfully, there won't be too many kinks to work out. ("You didn't write any subheds." "You didn't design a sidebar.")

The files circulate once and pertinent people all weigh in with their 2¢, then someone makes the decisions. They circulate again for final sign off and go out the door.

Right now everything is circulating old school, on paper. As soon I can get someone to pay for the system to do it all digitally, I'm all over it.

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Permalink Reply by Jasmine Grimm on December 20, 2008 at 4:50pm

If you brainstorm first, you'll save a lot of time in the end. Sit down, flesh the big idea out with all out with your designers and editors. Get everyone to have the same vision. Use sketches if you have to do so. Once everyone knows what you're working toward, they'll be better equipped to do their job each month. After you go through the process, sit down and debrief. Talk about what went well and what needs improvement. Figure out ways to fix the problems that came up that month and you'll be able to streamline the process.

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