The 3 1/2 Stages of Executing a Major Project

Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.” Everyone is creative in their soul. But not everyone has studied the process of producing artistic or creative work, taken classes to improve their skill, or has a thorough understanding of what makes great - and, importantly, lengthy - writing, art, movies, etc.

That’s the thing about working with non-creatives. They have all these ideas for what projects could be, but have a hard time translating them into what the final product can actually look like. For the purposes of this newsletter, we’re defining “non-creatives” as folks who don’t have any formal creative training or experience after graduating from school, if at all.

There’s a delineation in skill and experience between the person who knows photography and the one who takes pictures on their smartphone, the person who is a prolific novelist and the one who writes an email or presentation when they have to.

In my experience working with creatives and non-creatives, I’ve found that there are typically three stages of executing a major project that includes non-creatives, and those non-creatives have minimal insight into it:

1. Brainstorming
2. Creating
3. Finishing

#1. Brainstorming

This phase is the most fun. It feels like this is it, finally, the project that comes off flawlessly.

Maybe you have a brainstorming meeting or two. Maybe you set aside a half hour to just come up with ideas and write them down. Maybe you spend time doing competitor research or just poking around completely unrelated artistic work to see what others have done that inspires you.

At the same time, you plan out the structure of the project. Major projects usually involve multiple pieces, so when are you going to work on what? This is the time that you throw together possible outlines and structure your work so you can stay inspired and productive and never overwhelmed.

Finally, you pick the idea that most inspires you. The one that you think you’ll have the most fun working on or will offer the widest range of possibilities for getting your point across. And once you have it, it’s time to flesh it out, moving into…

#2. Creation

Ernest Hemingway is famously quoted saying “write drunk, edit sober.” (Although, in reality, he never actually said that.) But that’s the mentality of this phase. You just start crashing and burning your way through building new material because it’s easier to edit something that exists than continue facing the blank page.

And everyone knows what you’re creating requires editing. It is definitely not perfect. But so long as it exists and is generally on track, stakeholders are still pleased.

Of course, this phase is also exhausting. You’re high on the thrill of creating something new, but it takes so much brainpower to create - particularly as the project itself keeps changing.

Inevitably in this phase, the schedule for building pieces of the overall project starts shifting around, and the scope grows as you realize what’s really required to make this project truly effective.

But hey, there’s still plenty of time to make up what’s falling behind and fix what you’ve got. Right up until there isn’t, and you’re…

#3. Finishing

This is the most harrowing phase, which is so frustrating when it was supposed to be GLORIOUS. This is when everyone has to accept that creative work, no matter how perfect the initial idea was, can only ever produce an imperfect reality.

All of the time you thought you had is now gone, the deadline is nigh, and you’re going to have to let your work just go out into the world.

It’s the moment when non-creative stakeholders panic. How can we release such a flawed product? Won’t everyone see the problems that we see and judge us accordingly? It’s the moment when folks suggest pushing back the delivery date or creating an equally large second part of the project.

And that makes it hard for creatives, because we’ve just put our heart and soul into this work, so hearing those hesitations contributes to the impostor syndrome pretty much everyone has. Part of being successful as a creative must be learning how to overcome that feeling, but this phase doesn’t help.

This is when you get to…

Secret Additional Phase #4. Release It Anyway and Learn

Several years ago, I went to a screening of a few episodes of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel that featured a Q&A with one of the recurring guest actresses in the show. We were in this tiny little screening room in this very upscale private school. (Do I even need to specify that it was a rich kids’ school if it included a screening room?)

When they opened up the Q&A to the audience, one man who looked vaguely post-middle-age (could’ve been either 45 and spent every day in the sun without sunblock or 72 and look great for his age, impossible to tell) stood up to ask what it is about Mrs. Maisel that made it such a huge hit.

And the actress just straight up laughed and said, “If Hollywood knew that, they would only ever make hits.”

Sometimes, you just have to do the work, let it go, and then see how it does. You never know before you release it how folks will actually react. All you can do is do your best and get it out there.

This is as true for business work as it is for artistic work.

It’s the part where it belongs to others, not just yourself. And that’s as helpful as it is horrifying. You let this one go, see how it did, and then make final edits or take that knowledge into your next project.

Playwright John Cariani released three editions of the script to his megahit play Almost, Maine because audiences made good points about the first and second editions and he decided to adjust the play accordingly.

The test and learn is where it’s at.

Wrapping Up

Major projects are terrifying because they involve months of work, and no one ever wants that investment to not be worth it. But I like recognizing these stages because they provide my team and I with grace as we’re going through each stage of the process.

Are we being a little idealistic in the brainstorming section? That’s normal. Are folks starting to be less and less enthused as we deliver more and more work? Unless specifically told otherwise, that’s not due to the quality of our product, it’s just the finishing phase.

And letting it go lets us stop worrying about whether the work is good enough and just get on with doing the best we can. As Stephen Sondheim wrote in his love letter to artists of a musical, Sunday in the Park with George, “Stop worrying if your vision is new./Let others make that decision./They usually do./You keep moving on.”

We’re all out here doing our best. Our best will keep getting better. We just have to do the project, and then move on to the next.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: This coming weekend I will be traveling for a wedding and the following weekend is my birthday! So, in the vein of giving yourself grace, I am going to make room for being fully present both weekends and there will not be a newsletter in two weeks on Monday, July 29th. I anticipate returning on Monday, August 12th.