Pixar’s “Creativity, Inc.”: Project Management Lessons

Every Christmas I read a book to relax, reflect and learn. A book that I loved this Christmas was Ed Catmull’s 2014 “Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming The Unseen Forces That Stand In The Way Of True Inspiration”.

“Creativity, Inc.” is a? story about how Catmull co-founded Pixar and sustained a culture of creativity and innovation - and even scaled it when Disney acquired Pixar. Through delightful stories of films and characters we know and love, Catmull shares management principles for an enduring creative culture.

As a Project Manager (PjM), I extracted several insights and techniques that I believe will help manage projects with a view of fostering a creative culture. Films are projects, afterall. Creating and protecting a creative culture supports PjMs in handling several challenges during the project lifecycle, from project scoping, designing deliverables, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and stakeholder management to name a few areas. The book is full of lessons and I selected 3 that most resonated with my PjM experience:

1. Create The Unmade Future
2. Broaden Perspectives Through Postmortems
3. Tame the Fear of Failure

1. Create The Unmade Future

Catmull explains that the process of creating something new starts with a blurry vision of the end result. The act of creating requires discovering and realising a vision over time through dedicated, painful work. Catmull calls it the “unmade future”. To create something is to invent the future. That can be uncomfortable and full of uncertainty.?

PjMs also create the unmade future since projects are often used to bring about change. When we define a project scope and its deliverables, we are attempting to sketch out what the future will be. Three Pixar’s techniques can help PjMs navigate this time of uncertainty:

• Find Your Own Mental model: Adopting a mental model helps navigate the chaotic process of creating something new. It is a useful tool to articulate for other people the quest for the unseen destination and the fear, uncertainty and difficult decisions along the way. Some of Pixar’s creative people see their work as climbing a mountain blindfolded, finding their way through a maze, balancing an upside down pyramid, driving a car, skiing, or playing the guitar. These models help consolidate the vision that we must progress even if the destination is unclear. As we progress, our project is revealing itself to us, its stages, challenges and solutions.?
• Choose a Mountain to Attack: Creation is done through every decision we make. Therefore, deciding on a course of action is better than lingering in indecision. We often get stuck before decisions, seeking more data, advice or analysis. All in the name of trying to avoid failure. Using a war analogy, Catmull suggests quickly choosing a mountain to attack; and if you find out that it is the wrong mountain, turn your back and head to the other mountain. Fail fast and use the learning to progress your understanding.
• Show Early and Often: Pixar teams share early work for feedback frequently. This is done mostly through the Braintrust, one of the most important traditions at Pixar. It is a regular meeting where people are charged with identifying and solving problems together. For example, directors bounce ideas around, and work through difficulties. The key for its success is candour and authenticity. Participants engage without getting emotional or defensive. No ego or power plays are allowed. This process helps shape the vision and uncover hidden problems. PjMs can emulate the Braintrust by scheduling project check-ups with a group of trusted people from a variety of backgrounds.

“No Pixar movie ever started out as funny, heartfelt, and well-written as what we see in theaters. In fact, many of them were complete disasters at the start.”

2. Broaden Perspectives Through Postmortems

Pixar conducts postmortems after every film as one of the mechanisms to nurture a culture of creativity. Catmull explains the reasons for that include consolidating lessons learned, teaching others who weren’t there, and addressing resentment and frustrations.?

Postmortems are not a Pixar-exclusive tradition. Retrospectives are common practice at Agile Projects. However, PjMs can leverage Pixar’s techniques to get the most out of such sessions:

• Vary The Format: Over time, people learn what to expect, which affects the depth of insight from these sessions. Shape sessions around specific topics to yield new lessons.
• Use Lists To Uncover Sensitive Lessons: To help people be candid about difficult topics, Catmull asks teams to make two lists - the top five things that they would do again and the top five things that they wouldn’t do again.
• Use Data And More: While Catmull suggests that data facilitates neutral discussions, he also warns against blind spots. Data does not represent the full picture. He recommends teams spend time preparing for postmortems to generate other types of valuable reflections.

“First conclusions we draw from our successes and failures are normally wrong. Measuring the outcome without evaluating the process is deceiving.”

3. Tame the Fear of Failure

Fear of failure inhibits innovation. Catmull explains that a fear-based, failure-averse culture breeds risk avoidance. As a result, people will keep within the boundaries of what is known to work - something that Catmull calls “derivative work” instead of “innovative work”.

Pixar installed a culture where mistakes are seen as inevitable consequences of doing something new. PjMs who want to create a culture of creativity in their projects can leverage some of Pixar’s techniques:

• Employ A Healthy Response To Failure: For Catmull, the strategy of trying to avoid failure by outthinking it dooms you to fail. Instead, Catmull's approach is to encourage a healthy response to failure. Talking about failures and problems is the first step to turn them into learning and progress. This includes our own failures as PjMs but also those of our project teams. Avoid reprimanding severely others who make mistakes.?
• Protect The “Ugly Baby”: Catmull likens new ideas to an “Ugly Baby” that requires time and attention and that doesn’t fit neatly in the corporate structure (which he calls “The Beast”). Trying to make the “Ugly Baby” fit within the overarching structure might kill it. The intention is to strike a balance between nurturing the new idea while tending to the corporate needs. For example, making exceptions on rules and procedures for innovation projects.
• Run Experiments: Experiments keep teams innovating and trying out new approaches and ideas. Catmull encourages the mindset of “Fail early, fail fast, fail fearlessly”. This resonates with Agile PjM methodologies. Running experiments with low cost, low risk prototypes and mockups will help define what works or not. For example, Pixar’s short films are experiments.?

“The attempt to avoid failure, in other words, makes failure more likely. Paying attention to the present moment without letting your thoughts and ideas about the past and future get in the way is essential. Why? Because it makes room for the views of others. It makes us willing to experiment, and it makes it safe to try something that may fail.”