The Creative Operations Blueprint Your guide to more efficient creative production 1
All creative teams deal with creative operations, even if they don t call it that. Whether it s a creative director that is dealing with admin on the side, or a designer pressed into project management, someone is trying to keep the process moving and meet deadlines. With larger teams and more complex demands many creative services teams are recognizing Creative Operations as a focal point to manage the business side of creative services. This guide is for you. Introduction Why us? ConceptShare has been at the forefront of the emergence of creative operations - building the community (www.creativeopshub.com) and hosting annual summits (www.creativeoperationssummit.com) to bring practitioners together. (We also provide industry leading online proofing, review and approval solutions.) We ve spoken with hundreds of companies that are all wrestling with similar challenges and looking for a place to start. This guide starts by introducing Creative Operations and why you might need it. Team composition and evolution are discussed to help guide your hiring needs. We discuss the three key processes of creative operations and outline questions to help assess your own environment. Too complicated? We love to talk creative operations and are happy to provide a no-obligations on-site assessment. Just call. 1-844-227-7848 2
Chapter 1: So, what exactly is Creative Operations? Creative Operations is the Field Responsible for Increasing Timeliness, Capacity and Compliance in the Creative Production Process. Often called the business side of creative services creative operations professionals support the creative team with processes and technology to make things run smoothly and efficiently. They improve creative production and workflow by using tools, measurements, and best practices to streamline the way creative work is produced in their organization. The role first appeared in enterprise organizations needing a much larger volume, faster velocity and increased variety of creative assets. Underlying trends like omnichannel, mobile, and real time marketing campaigns are the drivers for teams to produce more - faster. Just five years ago there were only a handful of professionals with a Creative Operations title. Today, more than 2000 people use the job title in the United States, reflecting the critical nature of the role. 3
Does my organization need Creative Operations? These are the types of questions Creative Operations professionals look for answers to: Timeliness: 4 Are we delivering approved assets on time? 4 Can we meet future demands on time? 4 Are we relying on heroic efforts to respond to last minute changes? 4 Do our customers think we are delivering on time? Control: 4 Do we have a handle on what projects are in process - or do some projects skip the line? 4 Do projects have all the right information - before they start? 4 Are our approved assets getting approval from the right people? Can we demonstrate that? Capacity: 4 Do we make the best use of our creative design resources? 4 Can we identify bottlenecks and delays? 4 Do we operate in a hurry up and wait mode? Cost: 4 What is our current cost per asset over the last quarter or year? 4 How do costs change as demand grows and we scale? 4 Bonus: How/Can we reduce our cost per asset? Cross-Functional 4 Are our clients involved in our processes? 4 Do we have silos that prevent improvements? 4
Chapter 2: It Starts with Process How do Teams Self-Assess Their Creative Operations Abilities? It s tempting to look for a silver bullet technology solution to magically solve your problems. But without a solid process it can be difficult to identify the real problem areas. We ve seen many creative operations executives try to use technology first, and it rarely works out well. Why? Because technology is not a solution, it is an enabler. Start with the process. Speak with your teams and project stakeholders and find out how work gets done today. Document the process as it exists today. Then plot a path from where you are today, to where you want to be, and begin to outline the steps and milestones needed to get there. This doesn t need to be a daunting task. The following pages highlights the three key areas that need solid processes. How would you rate your organization s status in the following areas - 2015 Creative Operations Survey. 5
It Starts with the Process: Where does work start? Project Management Gaining control of project initiation is usually the most critical step in process control. Identify: 4 How is creative work requested, and by whom? 4 Is a creative brief being used to capture requirements? 4 How are creative project timelines managed, and by whom? 4 How are resources assigned? 4 Are there well defined milestones set for creative projects? 4 Is everyone involved clear on the process? 4 What is the average project lifecycle? 4 What are the most common reasons why a project doesn t meet its deadline? The answers to these questions will help uncover where the gaps are, and prioritize improvements. Involve people that are actually doing the work - and your clients. This can identify areas for improvement, assess whether processes are actually followed, and generate suggestions on how to improve. 6
It Starts with the Process: How is work reviewed? Review & Approval An often overlooked part of creative production, the review and approval cycle is one of the biggest causes of delays and unnecessary rework. Things you may want to focus on here are: 4 How is feedback on creative work sent and received? 4 How long does it take to get from the first version to approval? 4 Do projects get stuck waiting for approvals? 4 How many people are part of the review process? 4 Do assets ever get distributed without proper approvals? 4 Can you find all of the feedback and change requests on an asset? 4 Is there rework caused by conflicting feedback? 4 Do reviewers feel their feedback is well understood the first time? 7
It Starts with the Process: How is work reviewed? 1 2 3 Involve reviewers and clients - especially to identify cross functional gaps and problems. Reviewers might find email easy, but you may waste time clarifying feedback over email threads, or that traffic managers spend a lot of time chasing down reviewers to keep on schedule. The number of reviewers and approvers often involves people external to your team. 1 2 3 Approvals start easy, with a few reviewers who are tightly involved in the project. Executive involvement, dispersed reviewers and legal/compliance complicate reviews. Seeking external reviews from partners, talent, and licensors - can bog down projects. 8
It Starts with the Process: Where is work stored? Digital Asset Management Creative production typically ends with a final version of an approved asset, ready for distribution through marketing. These assets need to be stored somewhere - in most enterprise organizations this is a DAM (Digital Asset Management) system. Things you ll want to uncover when mapping your processes here are: 4 Where are approved assets stored, and who is responsible for storing them there? 4 Are there pieces of metadata that creative assets are required to have? 4 Is it easy for marketing and creative teams to find approved assets for reuse? 4 Do assets get stored in other systems for collaboration & sharing? 4 How often are assets not stored in the DAM, or stored in the DAM without metadata? Getting an understanding of these issues will help uncover how well adopted your DAM is, figure out what impacts adoption, and highlights areas where perhaps some automation should be put in place vs. relying on manual inputs. You might be surprised to find that some teams don t use the DAM at all, and instead have adopted easier file management systems. Or that assets are rarely reused because they can t be easily found. 9
Creative Workflow Sample Project Workflow 10
Chapter 3: Building a Creative Ops Team - Roles Creative Services teams are often doing the work of creative operations before there is a dedicated person or team. Often, a creative director does double duty until dedicated resources are available. Here are the key questions to answer to develop your hiring plan. 4 Where do I start with building a Creative Operations team? 4 What roles do we hire for first? 4 What are the different roles we should be hiring for? 4 We have a Creative Director - isn t that the same thing? The recommended team evolution is illustrated below. The Impact of Creative Operations 11
Chapter 3: Building a Creative Ops Team - Roles 12
Building a Creative Ops Team - Skills & Attributes Great Creative Operations professionals tend to have a combination of some very unique skills and attributes. Equal Left Brain / Right Brain thinkers, the best in the industry usually started in a creative role, often at an agency. And while they may have started out doing design work, they were always very process driven. When hiring for your team, these are some skills and attributes you ll want to be on the lookout for. 13
Chapter 4: Creative Operations Tools & Technology Once you ve defined and documented your processes around how creative work is requested, reviewed, and stored you can start to evaluate options for tools and software. The Creative Operations Technology Stack typically includes Project Management, Review & Approval, and DAM systems that ideally all work together. What systems do you have in place to support your creative production processes? - 2015 Creative Operations Survey 14
Choosing the Right Technology Your team size and the complexity of your processes will drive the kinds of tools you should consider. While smaller teams can get away with spreadsheets and email, complex environments need specialized tools to manage their environment. 15
Chapter 5: Metrics What do teams typically measure? Defining processes and choosing the right technologies are critical but not set it and forget it solutions. You will want to measure every part of the process that you can, and continuously monitor so you can iterate, tweak, and adjust as needed. Is there a backlog of job requests because only half of the creative brief is being filled out? No problem, let s revisit and simplify. Are assets not getting approved on time because a reviewer wasn t notified? No problem, let s generate reminders. When you can track and measure a process, it s easier to identify and fix potential problems before they become problems. What you measure will depend on your goals & objectives, but here are some common metrics enterprise creative operations teams will generally measure: What metrics do you currently track? - 2015 Creative Operations Survey 16
Putting it all into action with the Creative Ops Canvas Now that we ve covered the basics, it s time to put it all into action. Would You Benefit More from a Creative Operations Best Practices On-Site Session? We created the Creative Operations Canvas to help you map where you are today, where you want to be, and how to get there. You can use the worksheets on the following pages as you work through documenting all of your processes, technologies, and metrics across your entire creative production process. Simply print the worksheets out, and follow the instructions for each section of the canvas. When your canvas is complete, you should have a pretty clear idea of where the biggest opportunities for improvement are. Need more help than this guide could provide? You may benefit from a Creative Operations Best Practices On-Site meeting. We can work with you and share the best practices we ve learned from working with hundreds of enterprise creative teams. These half-day sessions are customized to your specific needs and challenges. To see if this would be a good fit for you and your organization go to: go.conceptshare.com/creative-operations-best-practices-session 17
Creative Creative Operations Operations Canvas: Canvas: Review Reference & Approval Guide 1) Process - Sketch your current process from end-end. Make sure to think about how projects start, and how they get approved. See Page 10 for a sample workflow. 5) Tools to Consider - Try to place your team on the complexity map (Page 15). Do general purpose tools work or should you investigate more? List the people or teams involved that aren t part of your organization. Who requests new projects? Who finalizes them? Page 8 identifies some typical reviewers as a starting point. 2) Tools Used - List what software or online services you use. Include generic tools like email and spreadsheets as well as specialized software. 3) Key Metrics - What do you currently measure? What do you report to executives? 4) Current Challenges - What are your frustrations? Your teams? Your clients? 6) Metrics to track - What key measurements are missing that you need for monitoring, planning or reporting? 7) Process ideas - How can you streamline? Remove bottlenecks? Ensure approvals. Try to find some Early Adopters that can pilot the changes before full rollout. 8) Neat ideas - Capture what if ideas that need investigation or can t be done right now. 9) Best Practice - What s your long term view of the organization and process? Next Steps - What is your 90 day plan to execute. 18
Creative Creative Operations Operations Canvas: Canvas: Review Project Management & Approval HOW WE WORK WHERE WE WANT TO BE 1 - PROCESS List 1-3 sketch current process. 2- TOOLS USED What software is used? 9 - BEST PRACTICE What should you aim for? 5 - TOOLS TO CONSIDER 7 - PROCESS IDEAS Ways to simplify, streamline and expedite. TEAMS INVOLVED List what teams or outside groups are involved. 3- KEY METRICS List the key numbers that tell you how your process is doing. NEXT STEPS Concrete actions for improvement. 6 - METRICS WE SHOULD TRACK EARLY ADOPTERS 4 -Current Challenges & Issues 8 - NEAT IDEAS Innovative or fun ideas. 19
Creative Creative Operations Operations Canvas: Canvas: Review Review & Approval Approval HOW WE WORK WHERE WE WANT TO BE 1 - PROCESS List 1-3 sketch current process. 2- TOOLS USED What software is used? 9 - BEST PRACTICE What should you aim for? 5 - TOOLS TO CONSIDER 7 - PROCESS IDEAS Ways to simplify, streamline and expedite. TEAMS INVOLVED List what teams or outside groups are involved. 3- KEY METRICS List the key numbers that tell you how your process is doing. NEXT STEPS Concrete actions for improvement. 6 - METRICS WE SHOULD TRACK EARLY ADOPTERS 4 -Current Challenges & Issues 8 - NEAT IDEAS Innovative or fun ideas. 20
Creative Creative Operations Operations Canvas: Canvas: Review Digital Asset & Approval Management HOW WE WORK WHERE WE WANT TO BE 1 - PROCESS List 1-3 sketch current process. 2- TOOLS USED What software is used? 9 - BEST PRACTICE What should you aim for? 5 - TOOLS TO CONSIDER 7 - PROCESS IDEAS Ways to simplify, streamline and expedite. TEAMS INVOLVED List what teams or outside groups are involved. 3- KEY METRICS List the key numbers that tell you how your process is doing. NEXT STEPS Concrete actions for improvement. 6 - METRICS WE SHOULD TRACK EARLY ADOPTERS 4 -Current Challenges & Issues 8 - NEAT IDEAS Innovative or fun ideas. 21
ConceptShare is a leader in Creative Operations Management and Founder of the Creative Operations Summit. ConceptShare is a software company that focuses exclusively on the review and approval process for creative teams in large companies. We facilitate the Create - Iterate - Approve phase by integrating online proofing with workflow automation. We re experts in our niche, and have extensive partnerships to provide seamless integration with DAM and Project Management vendors including Mavenlink, ADAM Software, and NetSuite. Your input matters: Complete the State of Creative Operations Report Survey go.conceptshare.com/state-of-creative-ops-survey 22