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MEETING THE CHALLENGE

I have been working feverishly on a number of fronts. My needs assessment and design treatment will surely shock a number of people. What I have found is that DAI is a leading company in the animated film industry. We have very talented employees and top of the line facilities; still there is a need to improve production. We will need to move quickly to meet our timeline and to remedy our current budget woes. Here is my solution...

NEEDS ANALYSIS

  • Poor Employee morale and job security
    Employees are under severe pressure to produce. They need to be constantly abreast of the new changes and software; a lot of material needs to be learned in a short amount of time. If employees cannot keep up, their chances of being hired for the next production decrease. Supervisors want endless revisions that are minor and maybe unnecessary. These revisions also affect the employee's job prospects.

  • Inefficient installation of technology
    Numerous software and hardware changes between productions cause a lack of training on the new equipment. An update on the 3D modeler was expected, but not installed in time. The technology needs to be more efficient and consistent especially when everyone is under time pressure.

  • Training and assistance needed during production
    Training is said to be good, but it is done between productions. The time lapse between learning and practicing the software can be great. Workshops only introduce the animators to the software, however, the animators don't know what problem they will have until they are in the middle of production, which may be too late. Karl says, "Our dream is to have just a half hour a day one-on-one with an expert." Right now they are wasting production time because they try to figure it out themselves or try to find someone who can help them.

  • Online support is inadequate
    Web tutorials have been created by animators. Both Karl and Kenny say they have no time to refer to these resources; even though they are well done, they lack efficiency.

  • Poor communication
    Sharing of information is not efficient. Communication between all departments needs to be developed. There is no communication between the programmers and animators on what the animators need. Emily says that the programmers keep adding unnecessary things to the software which slows down production.

  • Communication between the trainers and animators is poor.
    The trainers don't know how the animators will use the software, and different animators will use the same software differently.

  • Difference between artists and techies
    Craig says the biggest problem is that with the digital revolution, film is being treated like a scientific process rather than a creative one. The "techies" don't know what occurs on a real set or how to handle the shots. While the artists have problems with the technology.

TRAINING SOLUTIONS

Techies & Artists Team
A training solution which allows pairs made up of both techies and artists to gain knowledge of the latest software from each other. By doing this the artists and techies, each member benefits from the other's knowledge and experience which both parties appear to be lacking. The pairing allows the participants to work together during production and during downtime creating web page solutions for software problems. Basically, the participants are solving their problems between themselves and at this stage are not going outside the company to solve their technical problems and questions.

The goal is to bring together techies, artists and production assistants to form teams to solve problems in understanding the computer system. This will eliminate time and money wastage, as the participants attempt to solve the problems on their own, or by obtaining answers via outsourcing. The teaming of the three members will also assist in breaking down the communication barriers that currently exist between the three sections of the company.

The target is the techies, who have the digital experience and knowledge. The artists have the real life experience and knowledge but lack the computer experience. The production assistants have limited experience in both computer and real life experience but will gain valuable exposure to both by participating in the team.

Techies and artists work together as teams. In addition, the production assistant will also become a part of the team. The production assistant will act as an intern, turning his/her work in early to gain immediate feedback from the techie and artist. In this way the production assistant/intern will benefit two ways (1) learning and (2) be given the opportunity to be promoted. The teaming of the participants will enable a more cohesive production and the creation of a web-based page. Once a project has been completed, and a problem has not been resolved, and no-one in the other groups is able to solve the problem, then, and only then, can the participants go outside the company to obtain the answer to the technical question. This will reduce the cost of outsourcing and also customize the software to the needs of the users (the techies and the artists).

Development and Refinement of The EPSS System
An EPSS system must be designed that reduces the complexity of tasks, providing information to increase performance, and a support system for making informed decisions. The redesigned EPSS system may include vendor created tutorials as well as software specific online help. However, the EPSS should include a standard search engine that will search for key words and phrases speeding the location of needed information through out the vendor tutorials, web based materials and online help. Over time, web based tutorials, frequently asked questions list, and job aids should be developed for all aspects of the pipeline making up a new EPSS system customized for DAI. This EPSS will be production specific, focusing on the actual skills and techniques used the pipeline. The actual employees using the specific software should be involved in the design of the EPSS creating it during production downtime. In the creation of the EPSS the employees can identify all short cuts and situations they have identified involving each particular task, so that a user may make informed decisions and reduce the amount of time on each project. The EPSS created should also be linked to archived files from previous productions demonstrating the desired effects.

The development of the EPSS will require the skills, organization, and facilitation of the training department to organize and assign the development to individual tutorials. An additional needs assessment of specific skills and problems needing to be addressed by the EPSS needs to be conducted. The training department can then begin work on the EPSS during the production time on the skills and problems specifically identified as high incident problems for the EPSS system.

NON-TRAINING/ORGANIZATIONAL SOLUTIONS

  • Creation of teams
    DAI will benefit by the clarification of a number of issues, each confronting an underlying problem: company cohesion. DAI's employees shall have defined job descriptions in order to facilitate interactivity between departments, as opposed the current pipeline, which doesn't reconvene in a production as a sum of its parts. As a result, work is therefore inefficient and lacking a continuous presentation.

  • Written and defined job descriptions
    Creation of teams, will be formed consisting of a member of each departmental faction: an artist, a techie, and an apprentice position. Team members may act as liaisons between department while learning the "other" side's production perspective, and augmenting inter-departmental communication.

  • Standardized software
    Last, DAI will purchase standardized animation software and hardware for all departments, enabling company-wide problem solving and sharing, eliminating technological inconsistency within each finished product.

ALTERNATIVE SOLUTIONS
DAI may make additional improvements by looking beyond the above issues. These improvements include:
  • Lowering walls between business and artistic points of view
  • Integrating technical and operations staff
  • Changing production of lighting effects
  • First Alternative Solution
    Upon arrival, Jason noted the dramatically different physical appearance between the dimly lit byzantine passageways of the pipeline and the large well-lit rooms for the trainers. Craig noted that, "Film companies are treated like accounting firms the people at the top don't know us." Meanwhile, Ellen in Finance complained "I seriously question why any shot element would require 40 takes. It sounds to me like poor planning and execution."

    While both complaints are valid, DAI management personnel, including those in training and finance, should seek more understanding of production and the real dilemma of daily production. They could attend more dailies, shadow an artist for a day, or study an on-line tutorial. Conversely, production supervisors need to truly hear the bottom-line concerns about production cost overruns. Pipeline staff should attend the dailies and be charged with finding additional ways to reduce the number of takes. DAI should also create work teams of managers and production personnel charged with pinpointing sources of friction and recommend solutions.

  • Second Alternative Solution
    DAI's organization chart highlights another difficulty. Both the Technical Director, who supervisors programmers and application developers, and the Operations VP, who manages all production and pipeline personnel, report directly to the CEO. These two do not coordinate their activities, instead pursuing independent agendas. Glen states that he stays current with technology by reading literature, and attending industry presentations. But over the Technical department, Doug mentions their tech analysts decide new software upgrades. The occasional inter-departmental software meetings include only the techies, thus excluding the artistic production people.

    DAI should integrate technical and operations staff by formal realignment or by restructuring duties to make the software needs of the production personnel paramount.

  • Third Alternative Solution
    Correct lighting effects are difficult. Retakes are common, and costly. Yet correct lighting-effects personnel are only entry level, and also lack training in art. DAI should either give the lighting effects personnel experience on a real set or else use only personnel with real set experience to produce lighting effects.

    In Conclusion...

    I imagine that it will be difficult, at first, for DAI to approach my recommendations on some level; not all of my suggestions are EPSS-oriented as they might have expected. My recommendations affect the pipeline on procedural and social levels, but eventually reach company-wide in some shape or form. Should DAI choose to implement these suggestions, given some time, the company will be able to conduct periodic assessments of the design's execution. Up for tangible measure and analysis will be:
    1. the effectiveness of work proportionate to time and budget constraints and,

    2. the effect of the new availability of EPSS solutions on DAI employees. Additionally, the implementations should also reflect in employee morale, a factor that will further foster the positive aspects of this change-cycle. With a little re-focusing, DAI's high caliber employees and technology may find that their endeavors to achieve their greatest potential do indeed lie within their control.

      Read the Provocateur Questions & Responses for this Team

      Read the Judges' Comments & Ratings for this Team

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