Thoughts

“Frank and Ollie”: A story of collaboration and friendship

Sep 1 2008

The film “Frank and Ollie” is a gem on many levels. It provides fascinating and fun insights into the creative process, and highlights the positive benefits of small teams that approach their work through collaboration, partnership, fun, and friendship. You can also watch it for just sheer entertainment.

Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston were two of Disney’s most important and influential animators, working on such pioneering films as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Jungle Book, and many others stretching over their 40 years at Disney. “Frank and Ollie” highlights their truly unique friendship over 70 years, how they worked so well together, and how they learned so much from each other.

They each had a solid understand of the other’s strengths and weaknesses, and they leveraged that understanding to benefit both of them.

As Ollie said, “I’d take a drawing to Frank, and he’d make some little scribbles over it. He’d just point out what he thought I was missing or maybe he’d point out what he liked about my drawing, which I didn’t see. In the end, I ended up with a much better drawing. I couldn’t have done it by myself … We had a way of working together that really benefited both of us. We each lifted the other up to something he couldn’t do by himself.” And Frank summarized their collaboration: “There’s a truth and an honesty there that you don’t always find even in fairly close friends.”

Glen Keane had the opportunity to observe and learn from Frank and Ollie early in his career. In the film, he says “’As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another’ … When I first got (to Disney) they were still arguing about the way they would see something. They were working on it. They were constantly rubbing these ideas across one another’s surface because they knew that that was how the best things happened. As a team of people.”

If you rent movies using Netflix, you can find “Frank and Ollie there.

A couple of personal notes: This film reminded me of another important point about friendship and work: the book “First, Break All The Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently” concludes that having a best friend at work is a significant indicator, and perhaps the indicator, of whether a person will be happy in his/her job or not. After 20 years working in companies of various sizes, I recently started my own consulting business. I work from a much smaller office now, which has its advantages and disadvantages, but the fact I have two best friends at work has made the transition even more enjoyable than I hoped.

Also, “Frank and Ollie” was the first film I watched together with my son. Yes, he was only two weeks old at the time, but it’s never too early (or too late) to learn life’s important lessons.

– Jeff

“Architecture School”: A compelling view into the creative process

Aug 24 2008

For those interested in the creative process, “Architecture School” (Sundance Channel) offers a compelling view. It’s a new series which started this week and lasts through early October. It follows university architecture students who design and build a home in New Orleans. It’s a story of creativity, learning, competition, and ultimately, trying to make a difference.

Other themes include:

• The impact of design: Design (good and bad) has a real impact on real people’s lives. Because the series is set in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina is not just a constant part of the story, but a reminder that good design isn’t just surface, easier to use, or more enjoyable; it can also mean personal and economic survival.
• Understanding customers’ needs: Throughout the series, the architects work to understand what customers actually need. In an early design critique, someone asks the important questions: “Why does (the customer) care? How does this improve the life of someone who lives in this house?” Later on, one student notes “how important it is to talk to the people you’re building for.”
• Engaging students: In the class, the students themselves build the house. In my experience, when teachers help students focus on real opportunities and problems to which they can relate, students are more motivated, learn more, and create more compelling solutions. This is another widely understood truism that is unfortunately too rarely applied.

Even if you don’t have access to the Sundance Channel, you can watch many video clips on the Web. It’s worth the time.

– Jeff

The clear benefits of empowering smaller teams

Aug 3 2008

Today’s New York Times features an article on the benefits of creating smaller teams. As a team increases in size, so do the difficulties in ensuring the team has clear responsibility, clear accountability, and is able to innovate quickly. The author, Janet Rae-Dupree, writes “By breaking huge business units into smaller, nimbler teams, companies stand a chance of rekindling the creative spark that got them rolling in the first place.”

Ben Grimes, a high-tech CTO, makes another important point: “By making sure products in development meet customer needs each step of the way, Avocent has been able to avoid spending weeks correcting errors in the final product”. How did they do it? By empowering a small, cross-functional team who involved customers throughout the product process.

In my experience, when it comes to creating a more effective team, smaller is better — customers and organizations see better results sooner, and the people on the team are energized and eager to take on the next challenge. Count on it.

– Jeff