Managing Workload For Creatives & Producers

We learnt many tips, perfect for creatives and producers who want to manage their workload better. All from our first Creative Directors Meetup with Ariel Ross, Creative Operations expert at Asana (ex-Airbnb).

She also shared how we can keep creative teams motivated and happy at work. Read the highlights below👇 or if you would rather watch, check out our YouTube channel.

🟡 What is workload and why does it matter? 🟡

👉 Workload is the volume and complexity of tasks assigned to a person within a given timeframe for specific deliverables.

✏️ Workload and Capacity
👉 Workload and capacity is the balance of existing priorities assigned to a person against new and incoming tasks.

✏️ Don’t just look at workload volume
👉 Looking only at the number of tasks is not an accurate view of your team’s workload.

✏️ Task Complexity and Effort
👉 Map out the same number of tasks you have with how complex they are.
👉  You might find more effort / hours need to be allocated to complete them.

🟡 The Aerial Approach 🟡

It is looking from the top down looking from the project to the person.

1. Inputs
👉 Include the brief, timings and the budget for the project. 👉 You need all three inputs, otherwise it makes it difficult to make accurate estimates.

2. Scoping
👉 Start building your project: creating sub-stages that will identify roles for your team and how much time each team member is needed for each stage.

3. Map against Staffing
👉 All the scoping stages are then mapped against existing resources: your internal team, go-to freelancers or will you need to recruit new collaborators?

Want more insights? Check our Creative Operations Course for Creatives and Producers.

🟡 The RACI chart 🟡

A RACI chart is a method of assigning responsibility to members of the team.

Responsible = Who does the work
Accountable = Decision maker
Consulted = Provides input
Informed = Looped in the process

👉 With a RACI chart, you can start correlating the level of effort (LOE) with the tasks at each stage.
👉 Once effort is estimated we can allocate numbers of hours each week for each task.

Want more details? Watch the full Webinar on our Youtube channel