Because No One Likes Working OT

It's pretty clear: no one likes working overtime.

And yet, it's been widely accepted that ''that's how it is in the industry; it will never change.''.

I beg to differ!

There is a different way to schedule for animation production, one that does not include working overtime.

✨ To virtually eliminate overtime in my production, I took three fundamental actions:

⏱ 1) I stopped treating the scope of work as an elusive, opinion-based concept and turned it into a straightforward document defining the complexity and number of features produced. Knowing precisely WHAT we are scheduling was the first step to eliminating overtime. It also does wonders for managing expectations with everyone involved.

⌛ 2) I took a hard look at how many hours a week my artists have available to work on tasks. There had been a status quo that you schedule 40 hours of tasks to artists when actually, they spend a few hours a week in meetings, reviews, training, team building activity, company-wide events, and face technical downtime, internet shortages, software malfunctions... They might only have 32-34 hours a week left for tasks. Being realistic about that was the faster way to crush over time and set ourselves up for success. Trust your data, and remove your opinion from the equation. It's a number game.

📅 3) I made space for surprises. Scheduling for the creative process means we must try things (they won't all work!), iterate, pivot, and readjust. It also means we will receive unexpected requests and last-minute ideas, and while we won't address them all, some will be so great that they will make it into our project. Expect the unexpected because it will for sure happen! Keep a buffer and a contingency in your schedule. Surprises can be stressful and disruptive, or they can be planned for. Which one sparks more joy?

I used to be up early every morning to babysit my production schedule. Now, I have my coffee in bed every morning.

Click here to get direct access to my free masterclass on scheduling for animation.