What is Workflow?
Work•flow /ˈwərkflō/
“The sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion.” – lexico.com
What is a quality workflow? How do we develop it? Below are elements of the production cycle that most creative people move through as they create something. First, we must identify the stages of project production. What is each stage and what are the quality checks for each stage. Read on and find out!
Stages of Creation Development
Inspiration
How do we find ideas to develop?
- When trying to find inspiration, think of what is meaningful to you, and apply it to your thinking process. Mix your own interests with the task at hand.
- There is motivation, and then there is INSPIRATION. I imagine Inspiration as something external, which then motivates you to work. Finding Inspiration should be less of a search and more of a “it finds you.” But if nothing comes to mind after a decent amount of time, change your environment and converse with others. Broaden your scope by reading, watching movies, and talking to people in order to make greater the possibility of finding inspiration.
- Perhaps find positive inspiration by observing the works of others.
- Quality of Inspiration is fascinating and I believe a little tricky. There is a very innate feeling when it comes to inspiration, that everyone should be able to identify. Upon seeing, hearing, or feeling something, do you receive an innate feeling of inspiration? Does it fascinate you exceedingly, and encourage you to keep exploring? Does it excite you?
- The quality of your own inspiration has to be measured by yourself, because the ‘quality’ of inspiration varies from person to person. As long as you feel deeply affected by an idea/source of inspiration, and you believe that said source could drive you to work hard but enjoy the work, then the inspiration is of high quality.
Intention
How do we clarify our specific goal(s) for a project?
- Intention is closely linked with inspiration. Your inspiration should make you want to do something, but what is the real intention of that thing??
- Review all of the possible intentions. Do you want to educate, to entertain, to fascinate? Do you want to persuade or change the opinion of your audience?
- Go over who your ‘ideal’ audience actually is. If targeting/directing your project at anyone specifically, who is it?
- Continuously review WHY you are working, to stay motivated. Is your intention good enough? Does it make you proud and further your excitement? Answer each of these questions when trying to clarify intention.
- Quality of intention is complex. Like quality of many other things, it can vary depending on circumstance. But the big question to ask is “Does your intention/goal have a positive drive, and will your intention/work intrinsically change or inspire someone?” If yes, then your intention is of excellent quality.
- The measurement of the quality of your intention/goals can be measured by yourself. This is because (in my opinion) intention and goals are majorly intrinsic.
- However, other people can help judge the quality of an intention by rationalizing and making sure that your goals are both challenging and possible.
Pre-production
How can we brainwrite, brainstorm, storyboard, and plan our ideas at this phase?
- As in material tools, you should always keep a notebook and pencil at hand, wherever you go. Take note of things you would like to incorporate in the project, or in your work overall. Again, take advantage of all the (other) resources at hand.
- If you are working with a group, make sure to stay engaged and up-to-date with them. Discuss each person’s ideas, and don’t shoot down any of them right away! Deeply listen to and consider each possibility.
- Explore the different techniques when it comes to the task at hand. What are popular techniques, and what are other techniques that are not used as often?
- I firstly like to identify the exact things that are causing me stress in relation to the task at hand. The problems that need to be solved in order to go forward with a project. After these issues have been addressed, I have a stronger sense of readiness, and am able to plan ahead in a more relaxed way.
- The second thing to do would be to observe both your inspiration and intention, and see how the two connect. Your inspiration and intention should be strong enough to initiate at least a few ideas.
- Brain-write, Brainstorm, Storyboard. Exploration should be a key factor in the Pre-production stage. Be curious about your surroundings, and initiate conversations with people you believe will have interesting ideas. Discuss with your team (if you are working with one) and listen to each other.
- If creating a film, explore the wide range of film technique, and identify a theme that you would like to stick with while producing. What do you want to be obvious to the audience? What subtler things create a more complex and interesting atmosphere?
- Part of Pre-production quality depends on the magnitude of the task at hand. If it is simpler, it may require less planning, but if the opposite, perhaps you should invest more time in pre-production to prevent later stress.
- Your team and yourself measure quality. Your team could mean a small group of people, or it could mean the whole class, including the teacher. If you feel more than comfortable moving forward with the plans you have, then by all means go ahead. However, make sure to be open to revisiting your plans and making adjustments if necessary.
Production
How do we communicate with each other and execute our plan for this phase? This is where we actually make the project.
- Production should be engaging but not overly-stressful. Because of the past two stages, you should have a clear idea of not only the task at hand, but the reasoning for why the task must be completed. When producing, we should constantly be drawing from new sources of inspiration, such as music, movies, books, and friends and family, but should still make sure to stay on track and use these sources in the right ways.
- Time management is important in every area of workflow,, but particularly in production. Set timers, and experiment with what amounts work best with you. At every stage, there is an opportunity for growth, and we have to keep in mind that there is no one way of doing things. Each mind is unique.
- Inspiration, Intention, and Pre-Production come before Production, and are the process of reaching the stage Production. However there should be a different process that belongs to the actual Production of a project.
- I believe the first step of production would be to organize. Although the majority of planning should occur in pre-production, organization of tools and resources can also be used in production.
- Once everything has been reviewed/double checked, begin producing in whatever way you planned to (the production techniques vary greatly). Make sure to continuously review and reflect after each piece or segment of the task at hand is completed.
- How do you measure quality?
- There should be a direct correlation from your production to your planning and your inspiration. When measuring the quality of your , you should take into account efficiency, organization/time management, technical (and 21st century) skills being utilized, and overall flow. If production isn’t going smoothly – if you find yourself contradicting yourself or unable to use tools/techniques – find help/alternate perspectives, and begin again (but this time with a better understanding of how you can work more efficiently).
- The quality of production should not be measured solely by someone who is doing much of the production themselves. Someone like an educator or administrator should lend their opinion of the quality of the current production (while taking into account the workers’ view as well).
Post-production
How do we communicate with each other and execute our final stages of the project for this phase? This is where we publish the project.
- WHAT TOOLS SHOULD WE USE?
- Technically, editing of a project can be done many ways. There are endless editing tools and ways to compare work and discuss, and all of these should be used.
- As I have said before and will say again, we should always converse with other people and listen to their opinions. Take what they say into account.
- WHAT PROCESS SHOULD WE USE?
- Consider the future audience’s perspective and put yourself in their shoes. Then edit your work accordingly. Review, reflect, edit, repeat.
- HOW DO YOU MEASURE QUALITY?
- Quality of post-production is interesting. The need for post production may vary depending on the quality and effectiveness of the production, but in the end post-production should be a time for seeking out any defects in the work and correcting them, and should occur no matter the quality of production. Review, reflect, edit, repeat – until you cannot anymore.
- If all of the observable defects have been removed/edited, leaving you content with your work, then you have executed high quality post production.
- WHO MEASURES QUALITY?
Presentation/Performance
How do we share our project with our learning community, advisory members, and the world?
- In times such as these (the world of Covid-19), presentation and performance will be very different. Luckily, we have all of the technology of the 21st century at our fingertips.
- Keep in mind that there are ways to share your work outside of the (virtual) classroom!
- “Confer” with an advisor about the best way to go about presenting. Use technology, as well as the help of others, to create a flawless presentation of your project.
- When presenting, remain professional but engaging. Don’t speak in a monotone, and create an environment receptive to your ideas and your project by perhaps including in your presentation things that the audience might immediately find interesting or that might capture their attention.
- Language should be clean and concise, and not overbearing. However, you want to keep your presentation fresh, lively and unique! Don’t focus too much on standards, as they may kill the learning vibe. All of these things contribute to quality.
- The quality of a presentation/performance should not be measured by a single person. It can be measured by a variety of people, from advisors to colleagues/classmates.
Feedback
How do we conduct a feedback session at the end of the project development cycle?
- To conduct a feedback session, we should use selected note takers focusing on documenting all of the ideas, and allow for as many people as possible to engage in the feedback session in order to learn from different perspectives.
- We should first review the work that was done, and then go over the parts of said work that were amazing, adequate, or that need to be adjusted.
- We could experiment with different types of feedback, but I believe discussion will always prove to be the most effective (although some may feel more comfortable sharing feedback non-verbally).
- Feedback should never be single-sided. Unless every stage of the project’s production was conducted perfectly -which is unlikely – there is always something an observer can notify the ‘workers’ of. If you reflect on a project using solely the words “That was good,” or “I really liked that,” the producers/workers are going to learn nothing.
- Alternately, if you only give negative feedback, such as, “that was terrible in every way,” chances are the reception of such feedback is not going to go well. Although everyone should be open to criticism and critique, quality feedback is civil.
- Elaboration and detail is good. Quality feedback is specific, not broad or general.
- Quality of feedback can be measured by anyone and everyone. The more perspectives the better.