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labricoleuseThis is another part of my ongoing series of posts in which i attempt to answer the Hard Questions: What do i wish my professors had told me when i got out of school? What advice would i go back and give myself, if i could, and what knowledge do i want to impart that i haven't already?
All of these posts pertain to costume production work in a professional context--some of the info will apply to regional theatre work, some will apply to university production, some will apply to working in commercial for-profit shops, some will apply to film and television production, and some to union work (or non-union shops running on a union model). Everything i say won't be applicable to every job, of course, and some of it may contradict what some employers' expectations and requirements are. Consider this riffage to be taken with salt-grains.
Today i'm talking about the benefits of record-keeping to the costume production specialist. For the sake of continuity, i'll phrase it as a bold-faced distillation of a piece of advice:
Keep accurate written records of your work and processes.
First up on the docket is: time records and time management.
As i said in my post on job types and pay structures, as your career progresses, you get better at quotes for bid jobs, especially if you keep accurate records. When you keep track of how long it takes you to work on specific projects, you can get a good idea of what to estimate timewise for any given potential gig. I have a clear idea how long it takes me to make a simple hat, a complex hat, a parasol canopy, how much work goes into a color-match dye process, etc. It's good to know these things, roughly, about yourself, and record-keeping is how you learn.
I could cite my hour estimates here, but it wouldn't help you--how long it takes me to make a hat is probably not how long it takes you to make a hat. You will be fast at some things and slower at others, and that will be different from the things i'm fast or slow at. For example, you can surmise that, since i wrote the only extant book on parasol canopy construction, i am pretty darn efficient at making a parasol canopy. You know what i'm slowest at? Jewelry assemblage. Things with solder and split rings and wire-jigs and all that. I know this because i have kept records for years of my career.
Conversely, if you don't keep records to get an idea of this kind of time-estimation on your skills, you will consistently underbid yourself and panic over time-management of a show's production. If you wind up working in a commercial shop, a union shop, or any other production employer that tracks hours-per-job, you will likely be required to do labor breakdown on your timesheet, so it's a good habit to get into regardless. Some places will only track by the show or client, some will get so specific that they track by the piece. Even when i work somewhere that tracks by show or client, i still will keep a little tally per-piece for myself.
Let me touch for a minute on time management, as well.
When people talk about "having good time management skills," they aren't talking in abstract terms about being efficient or having a high level of output or being able to multitask or git-er-done. Time management is an actual activity in and of itself, something that you put aside the time to do, and it's something that many, many people are horrible at, because they have no idea how to do it. When you manage your time, you look at your task list and your due dates, look at the time you have to complete your tasks, and figure out how much time and labor you need. If those don't jive, you figure out what to do to balance it.
Here's an example:
Suppose you know that it takes you around 8 hours to make a particular style of hat, and you have to do ten of them in two weeks. If you're working eight-hour days in a five-day week, that's roughly one hat a day with nothing else on your plate. Fine, but if something else comes down the pike--some unforeseen dye requests, some shoes to rubberize, etc.--then you let your boss know that you'll either be working some overtime to get the hats done, or need her to kick you some extra help.
Sounds like a word problem on a math test, right? Because it is. That's your real-life application for all those exams where you had to figure out how many cakes Jill can bake if she has $10, flour costs $3 a lb., and a cake takes 12 ounces. Time management is a word problem on a math test, and if you get good at working the problem, production becomes a lot less stressful for you.
The better you get at time management and self-knowledge, the more accurately you can gauge things, too. Maybe you cut your time by making quality concessions, if that's okay with your manager or the client--using pre-made mass-produced hat linings instead of doing custom linings for the hats. Maybe you save time doing steps by machine that you'd ideally do by hand. The more you know from your documentation, the more factors you can take into your time management equations.
That said, err on the side of caution. The most meticulous of us still make mistakes, and unforeseen curveballs will get thrown your way. To go back to the simple example above, if you calculate 8 hours per hat, then realize after three of them you are actually only taking 7 hours per hat, keep that in the back of your mind, that you are three hours ahead of schedule. That way when those last minute dye requests come in, you can make a better-educated, more accurate decision as to whether you can do them and stay on-schedule with your hats.
Seems daunting? Don't let it scare you. Just start making little notes, however's best for you. Could be scribbles in the margin of a notebook, could be an Excel spreadsheet. Then, start to work with the data that you have. The more work you do, the more data you get, and the better you become at time management estimations. And, if you forget to record your time on something, give it your best estimate and don't beat yourself up about it. It's a piece of data you didn't record; try better to remember on the next project.
Next topic: Postmortems.
If you are the head of a team or the sole employee in your subdepartment (such as the only crafts artisan or painter/dyer or milliner), i recommend you write postmortem reports on each show, as well. I have done this for years whether i was required to or not. Often, i've given a copy to my manager, if s/he wanted one for the files. Documentation helps justify overhire spending or outsourcing, so IME managers usually like having written and dated info on past productions of this sort.
My postmortems consist of a statistical overview--info like how many hats were made, how many craft items were pulled/altered, how many pairs of shoes were rubberized in-house, how many custom dye projects were performed, etc.--followed by feedback on the production. This might be a brief paragraph on the output of any overhire or graduate assistants i had, any ideas on troubleshooting issues that might have arisen, etc. I keep a copy of these postmortems for my own records as well, so i can track data. In this manner, i can make a pretty good guess at what the requirements of a show are going to be for my subdepartment as soon as i find out the size of the cast and the period. (Of course it's always a guess--some designers are more prone to dye requests, others hate or love putting hats in shows, etc.)
When you write these kinds of documents, always remember that they are professional records, not diary entries; be diplomatic and accurate. If i address a problem, i offer constructive, positive suggestions for solutions on how to solve or avoid the problem in future. I don't write anything that is derogatory or "gossipy" or that I am not willing to stand behind 100%.
For example, say you are writing a postmortem on a show in which you had an overhire assistant who was highly skilled at doing dye notes, but frankly, sucked at millinery. Instead of writing something like, "Jane Smith is a poor milliner and should not be considered as overhire on future hat-heavy shows," write something like, "Jane Smith is particularly efficient and accurate in handling dye projects, and would be an excellent overhire candidate on future shows with heavy dye project loads." (I think it goes without saying that you don't write, "OMG Jane Smith totally blows at hats lol.")
You can then combine your postmortems with your hourly estimations and time management skills to better evaluate the needs of any given show--you'll be able to sit down with a pile of costume design renderings and figure out how much labor there is involved, whether you can make everything you're being asked to make, who of your pool of overhire labor would be best utilized in what ways, etc. Much of this is info that managers use all the time in their work, but is often overlooked by drapers, craftspeople, lead milliners, etc. Record-keeping skills are helpful at all levels of production--even if you are the lowest stitcher/generalist on the shop totem-pole, keep track of how long it takes you to put together a pair of pants, a bodice, a shirt, etc. That's information you'll want to know someday.
You know, it's unrelated to documentation habits but in general, that's something worth noting, too, and i can't stress it enough.
Professionalism and accentuating the positive is something that will take you far.
I've run across many people in this field who are negative, bitter people with poor attitudes, gossipy personalities, who conduct themselves in a completely unprofessional manner and generally treat their job and their workplace like they're at a hen party. Ultimately, your skills are what sells you to an employer, being able to make beautiful, quality costumes in a timely fashion and within the budget you are given. I've just found that my work is easier and my job satisfaction is higher when i work with folks who conduct themselves in a pleasant, professional fashion, than when i work with folks who bitch and moan. Sure, there's always something to bitch and moan about--a difficult actor, a rude director, a clueless stage manager, a snobbish coworker--but too much focus on that and you lose sight of things like what the little girl in the front row is going to think when she sees the beautiful, amazing hat you just finished.
There's a cliche about catching more flies with honey than you do with shit, and it's completely true--i think often we just titter at the fact that someone has said the word "shit" when we hear it and ignore the depth of the metaphor. Of course everyone knows that poop smells bad and is gross, and honey is sweet-tasting and smells lovely, but the metaphor is applicable because when a fly alights in honey, it gets stuck, whereas a fly will alight on a cow-pie, then fly away. That's the actual point of the metaphor--it's not that you won't get work if you are a negative, bitchy worker, but if you are a positive, professional worker, people will fight to keep you or rehire you for successive work whenever possible. And, you really CAN choose whether to conduct yourself in one way or another.
...wow, you can tell i have some time off before i head out for the summer. It's all verbosity all the time and meta-tastic up in here right now. I think i've only got a couple more of these super-windy posts--probably one on unions and taxes, and probably one on privacy and permissions in the age of the internet. Then i'm off to NY, and what that will bring to the blog, we'll see!
All of these posts pertain to costume production work in a professional context--some of the info will apply to regional theatre work, some will apply to university production, some will apply to working in commercial for-profit shops, some will apply to film and television production, and some to union work (or non-union shops running on a union model). Everything i say won't be applicable to every job, of course, and some of it may contradict what some employers' expectations and requirements are. Consider this riffage to be taken with salt-grains.
Today i'm talking about the benefits of record-keeping to the costume production specialist. For the sake of continuity, i'll phrase it as a bold-faced distillation of a piece of advice:
Keep accurate written records of your work and processes.
First up on the docket is: time records and time management.
As i said in my post on job types and pay structures, as your career progresses, you get better at quotes for bid jobs, especially if you keep accurate records. When you keep track of how long it takes you to work on specific projects, you can get a good idea of what to estimate timewise for any given potential gig. I have a clear idea how long it takes me to make a simple hat, a complex hat, a parasol canopy, how much work goes into a color-match dye process, etc. It's good to know these things, roughly, about yourself, and record-keeping is how you learn.
I could cite my hour estimates here, but it wouldn't help you--how long it takes me to make a hat is probably not how long it takes you to make a hat. You will be fast at some things and slower at others, and that will be different from the things i'm fast or slow at. For example, you can surmise that, since i wrote the only extant book on parasol canopy construction, i am pretty darn efficient at making a parasol canopy. You know what i'm slowest at? Jewelry assemblage. Things with solder and split rings and wire-jigs and all that. I know this because i have kept records for years of my career.
Conversely, if you don't keep records to get an idea of this kind of time-estimation on your skills, you will consistently underbid yourself and panic over time-management of a show's production. If you wind up working in a commercial shop, a union shop, or any other production employer that tracks hours-per-job, you will likely be required to do labor breakdown on your timesheet, so it's a good habit to get into regardless. Some places will only track by the show or client, some will get so specific that they track by the piece. Even when i work somewhere that tracks by show or client, i still will keep a little tally per-piece for myself.
Let me touch for a minute on time management, as well.
When people talk about "having good time management skills," they aren't talking in abstract terms about being efficient or having a high level of output or being able to multitask or git-er-done. Time management is an actual activity in and of itself, something that you put aside the time to do, and it's something that many, many people are horrible at, because they have no idea how to do it. When you manage your time, you look at your task list and your due dates, look at the time you have to complete your tasks, and figure out how much time and labor you need. If those don't jive, you figure out what to do to balance it.
Here's an example:
Suppose you know that it takes you around 8 hours to make a particular style of hat, and you have to do ten of them in two weeks. If you're working eight-hour days in a five-day week, that's roughly one hat a day with nothing else on your plate. Fine, but if something else comes down the pike--some unforeseen dye requests, some shoes to rubberize, etc.--then you let your boss know that you'll either be working some overtime to get the hats done, or need her to kick you some extra help.
Sounds like a word problem on a math test, right? Because it is. That's your real-life application for all those exams where you had to figure out how many cakes Jill can bake if she has $10, flour costs $3 a lb., and a cake takes 12 ounces. Time management is a word problem on a math test, and if you get good at working the problem, production becomes a lot less stressful for you.
The better you get at time management and self-knowledge, the more accurately you can gauge things, too. Maybe you cut your time by making quality concessions, if that's okay with your manager or the client--using pre-made mass-produced hat linings instead of doing custom linings for the hats. Maybe you save time doing steps by machine that you'd ideally do by hand. The more you know from your documentation, the more factors you can take into your time management equations.
That said, err on the side of caution. The most meticulous of us still make mistakes, and unforeseen curveballs will get thrown your way. To go back to the simple example above, if you calculate 8 hours per hat, then realize after three of them you are actually only taking 7 hours per hat, keep that in the back of your mind, that you are three hours ahead of schedule. That way when those last minute dye requests come in, you can make a better-educated, more accurate decision as to whether you can do them and stay on-schedule with your hats.
Seems daunting? Don't let it scare you. Just start making little notes, however's best for you. Could be scribbles in the margin of a notebook, could be an Excel spreadsheet. Then, start to work with the data that you have. The more work you do, the more data you get, and the better you become at time management estimations. And, if you forget to record your time on something, give it your best estimate and don't beat yourself up about it. It's a piece of data you didn't record; try better to remember on the next project.
Next topic: Postmortems.
If you are the head of a team or the sole employee in your subdepartment (such as the only crafts artisan or painter/dyer or milliner), i recommend you write postmortem reports on each show, as well. I have done this for years whether i was required to or not. Often, i've given a copy to my manager, if s/he wanted one for the files. Documentation helps justify overhire spending or outsourcing, so IME managers usually like having written and dated info on past productions of this sort.
My postmortems consist of a statistical overview--info like how many hats were made, how many craft items were pulled/altered, how many pairs of shoes were rubberized in-house, how many custom dye projects were performed, etc.--followed by feedback on the production. This might be a brief paragraph on the output of any overhire or graduate assistants i had, any ideas on troubleshooting issues that might have arisen, etc. I keep a copy of these postmortems for my own records as well, so i can track data. In this manner, i can make a pretty good guess at what the requirements of a show are going to be for my subdepartment as soon as i find out the size of the cast and the period. (Of course it's always a guess--some designers are more prone to dye requests, others hate or love putting hats in shows, etc.)
When you write these kinds of documents, always remember that they are professional records, not diary entries; be diplomatic and accurate. If i address a problem, i offer constructive, positive suggestions for solutions on how to solve or avoid the problem in future. I don't write anything that is derogatory or "gossipy" or that I am not willing to stand behind 100%.
For example, say you are writing a postmortem on a show in which you had an overhire assistant who was highly skilled at doing dye notes, but frankly, sucked at millinery. Instead of writing something like, "Jane Smith is a poor milliner and should not be considered as overhire on future hat-heavy shows," write something like, "Jane Smith is particularly efficient and accurate in handling dye projects, and would be an excellent overhire candidate on future shows with heavy dye project loads." (I think it goes without saying that you don't write, "OMG Jane Smith totally blows at hats lol.")
You can then combine your postmortems with your hourly estimations and time management skills to better evaluate the needs of any given show--you'll be able to sit down with a pile of costume design renderings and figure out how much labor there is involved, whether you can make everything you're being asked to make, who of your pool of overhire labor would be best utilized in what ways, etc. Much of this is info that managers use all the time in their work, but is often overlooked by drapers, craftspeople, lead milliners, etc. Record-keeping skills are helpful at all levels of production--even if you are the lowest stitcher/generalist on the shop totem-pole, keep track of how long it takes you to put together a pair of pants, a bodice, a shirt, etc. That's information you'll want to know someday.
You know, it's unrelated to documentation habits but in general, that's something worth noting, too, and i can't stress it enough.
Professionalism and accentuating the positive is something that will take you far.
I've run across many people in this field who are negative, bitter people with poor attitudes, gossipy personalities, who conduct themselves in a completely unprofessional manner and generally treat their job and their workplace like they're at a hen party. Ultimately, your skills are what sells you to an employer, being able to make beautiful, quality costumes in a timely fashion and within the budget you are given. I've just found that my work is easier and my job satisfaction is higher when i work with folks who conduct themselves in a pleasant, professional fashion, than when i work with folks who bitch and moan. Sure, there's always something to bitch and moan about--a difficult actor, a rude director, a clueless stage manager, a snobbish coworker--but too much focus on that and you lose sight of things like what the little girl in the front row is going to think when she sees the beautiful, amazing hat you just finished.
There's a cliche about catching more flies with honey than you do with shit, and it's completely true--i think often we just titter at the fact that someone has said the word "shit" when we hear it and ignore the depth of the metaphor. Of course everyone knows that poop smells bad and is gross, and honey is sweet-tasting and smells lovely, but the metaphor is applicable because when a fly alights in honey, it gets stuck, whereas a fly will alight on a cow-pie, then fly away. That's the actual point of the metaphor--it's not that you won't get work if you are a negative, bitchy worker, but if you are a positive, professional worker, people will fight to keep you or rehire you for successive work whenever possible. And, you really CAN choose whether to conduct yourself in one way or another.
...wow, you can tell i have some time off before i head out for the summer. It's all verbosity all the time and meta-tastic up in here right now. I think i've only got a couple more of these super-windy posts--probably one on unions and taxes, and probably one on privacy and permissions in the age of the internet. Then i'm off to NY, and what that will bring to the blog, we'll see!
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