Issue 2: the TV pilot mindset ??

Hi there, resourceful friend ?? this is issue 2 of Resourceful, a monthly newsletter curated by the team at?Float with the help of resource managers and planning pros like yourself.

Every December, I check out ‘best TV shows of the year’ lists to see if I’ve missed something interesting—all while knowing that for every show that makes it to the list, countless others never even made it past their pilot episode.

TV networks use pilots to understand and mitigate risk before green-lighting a full season. In this month’s long read, we apply the TV pilot mindset to resource management, with two industry experts who explain why and how to run project pilots before committing to full-scale production.

Floating forward,

fio D. (Content Lead at Float)

?? PS: you can get this newsletter straight to your inbox by signing up here.

The following resources are recommended by Emily Feliciano , Senior Global Creative Resource Manager at Atlassian:

?? The Digital Project Manager

Why: “They have a ton of great articles about resourcing, managing teams, costs, conflict resolution, and methodologies for being successful in the Project/Resource Management world. They offer access to training, podcasts, articles, how-to guides, and even job postings.”

?? Acting classes

Why: “This seems a little left field, but I would recommend anyone who works in Resource or Project Management to take an acting class. Team dynamics are much more than people on a page. Acting classes help the individual create vulnerability in a collective space and requires getting to know a different way to collaborate. I take classes in NYC at Barrow Group and they also offer online courses if you’re not in the vicinity.”?

???Teamistry

Why: “It’s our Atlassian Podcast! Teamistry is all about the chemistry that exists between groups of people who team up to achieve more than they ever thought possible. It’s a really great collection of inspiring stories throughout history.”

The following resources are recommended by the Float team:

??? Don’t live with broken windows

This piece was recently?shared by our Product Manager, Ryan Robinson , in Slack—and while it focuses on software development, we think it applies to anyone who’s ever had to deal with client work and?pressing due dates.?“Working as a Product Manager, I know?time is always limited, and it’s easy to defer fixes for later to meet a looming deadline. This article is a great reminder of why keeping scope tight and shipping lovable iterations is crucial—small cracks today can snowball into bigger problems tomorrow.”

????Say the thing

We’ve been talking about team values at Float over the last few weeks, and our CEO Glenn Rogers shared the screenshot above. It’s a?piece of advice?from Shopify’s?COO?that?Glenn accompanied with these words:?“In order to succeed, teams need to be comfortable being uncomfortable.?When it comes to ideas and product, say the thing. Say it now, say it succinctly, and say it about the thing, not the person. I’ll add one more: say it in public channels.”

The TV pilot mindset

Brought to you by Stella Inabo from the Float team

TV pilots have a huge responsibility: convincing a network that a series is worth fully investing in.

They are not meant to be perfect. They exist to test the waters, collect audience reactions, and help studios make the right decisions such as recasting a lead actor, adjusting production costs, or sometimes shelving a project altogether.

(Let’s have a moment of silence for all the potentially fantastic shows that never saw the light of day ?? )

Just as networks use pilots before green-lighting a full season, you and your team can use pilots for new projects to gather data about timelines, resourcing, and profitability before committing to full-scale production.

The pilot approach to project estimation

During our live session on estimation, Jason Fisher, Executive Studio Director at Flight Studio, shared that his team runs pilots for every new project. They want to understand:

“What’s it going to take? What’s it going to cost? And, most importantly, will it be good in the end? That last question—whether it will be good—is often forgotten when you’re trying to estimate. If it’s affordable and good, we’ll move forward and create more of it. But if the answer is ‘no’ to either of those, there’s your answer, too.”

In Fisher’s experience, pilots are powerful tools for project estimation. They help:

• Test assumptions
• Investigate the feasibility of a new project
• Improve iteratively
• Have productive conversations (and negotiations) with stakeholders and clients

How to use pilots to strengthen estimates

Fisher believes it’s okay for the first estimate not to be perfect—what matters is being able to gather data to inform future decisions. Here are some tactical ideas of how to use a pilot:

• Clearly define roles and responsibilities: Fisher suggests creating a RACI chart to map out who’s responsible, accountable, consulted, and informed upfront. This helps understand the full scope of who needs to be involved and how their time (billable and not) impacts the project (you can watch the clip here on Youtube).

• Build in buffer time/cost: add padding to cover potential delays or unexpected costs, for example by ensuring your day rate can account for outsourcing. During the same session, Emily Feliciano, Senior Global Creative Resource Manager at Atlassian, emphasized that “it’s always better to overestimate and deliver earlier than to underestimate and risk going over budget or time.”
• Understand team strengths: different team members excel at different tasks—some might be quicker at visual design, others may shine in video production. Being aware of these strengths helps match the right people to the work and increase project efficiency and effectiveness.
• Talk to your resources: it’s not just about knowing people’s capabilities—according to Feliciano, you want to involve them in the conversation from the start:?“Bring the impacted team members and leads who are going to be a part of the project into the initial scoping process. If you can have all of those great minds in one room at once, you’re able to strategically guide the upfront process and then kick off the work more efficiently and effectively from the beginning.”
• Build a tentative plan: nothing beats a good visual when you need to explain how new work will impact your team’s existing commitments—especially when the visual shows hard numbers. As Feliciano emphasizes, “I can’t take my feelings to leadership and say ‘I feel like we’re busy’. But you can’t argue with data. You can’t argue with numbers.”

Getting the green light

After every pilot, Fisher and his team ask each other: “How did it go? What did we do well? What could we do better? Did something go critically wrong?” Then they share the insights org-wide to help shape future work: “Here’s how it went. Here’s what none of you should do next time because it was really difficult. And here’s what you should absolutely do because it really worked well.” And that’s how your TV pilot, I mean project ??, gets the green light.

Project estimation made easy?

Here is a no-nonsense guide from Sam Barnes , Technical Project Manager at M&S, who draws on 15+ years of hard-won experience to cut through project estimation fluff and talk about what?actually?works.

From pushing back against premature commitments to handling ‘HiPPO bias’ (highest-paid person’s opinion), Barnes explains where and why traditional approaches to estimation often fall short—and what you want to do to get your estimates as close to right as possible.

Read more →

That’s a wrap for this issue—and for 2024 as a whole!?From the team at Float, have a great end of the year wherever you may be, from a northern hemisphere winter wonderland ?? to the sunniest beach down under ?? and see you in 2025.