10 months later...

It's 9 a.m. and I'm ready to begin my day. With a cup of hot coffee and a bagel, I'm heading toward my carrel when I run into Karl Durer.

"Hey Karl, good to see you!"

"Good to see you, Jason."

"I have to tell you that I liked the article you posted the other day to the Innovation forum. It was so easy to follow.

I'll e-mail you later about something we're developing."

"Thanks, I couldn't have done it without my technical mentor, Kenny. He really helped me walk through the process of translating my artistic vision into software command. I wish he'd received a little more credit in the summary."

"Anything else new going on?"

"Well, I got the promotion I've been wanting."

"You did! CG Sup?"

"Yea, during the debriefing at the end of the last production cycle I made some suggestions on the software we used, and later management approached me. Starting next production, I'll be supervising the production of 10 shot sequences.

"That's great, Karl. Congratulations."

"Thanks. I was just talking to Cynthia about shedding some pre-production training."

"Well keep some time open for me. The new forum we're developing will deal with cross-discipline production concerns and I'd like you to join the moderation panel. I'll email you with the proposal today."

"Great. Thanks for the invite. I'll read it tonight."

"See you around."

Physical Environment
The physical environment consists of a modern, seven-story building; each floor devoted to a particular department. Resources include a state-of-the-art electronic training room with recessed computer workstations and ergonomic chairs. Employees work in their own, personalized carrels with individual computers.

Social Environment
The target population includes men and women who work in various artistic and technical positions to create 3-D animation for film.

The DAI training department's primary responsibilities include training new employees on DAI's proprietary software and Intranet; providing "basic" training on software applications; arranging software vendor workshops and presentations for intermediate and advanced training; and working with employees to develop workshops based on their own techniques for using vendor software. Interviews with training staff and pipeline employees revealed that the Intranet is an underutilized training resource.

The Visual Effects Supervisor and Computer Graphics Supervisor, to whom the artists and technicians report, both expressed concern regarding what they considered to be a lack of traditional art training of their employees. Several pipeline employees and one CPA in finance were also interviewed. The pipeline employees included a 3D animator/designer, compositor, programmer, and rotoscoper. All of the pipeline employees agreed that most of their training is limited to non-production periods. Feelings regarding the ease of use for various software applications varied by position; however, there was general consensus that it would be valuable to have training during production to address problems and/or questions, in addition to pre and post-production training.

The production staff agreed that most practical training comes from trial and error and from peer knowledge sharing. It is often the case that if one person figures out how to use the software, he or she will share that knowledge with others on his or her team. Concern was expressed about the learning curve for new software applications. It was suggested that better communication between the "techies" and the animators, during software development, could decrease the learning curve. Inconsistencies between what is taught in training and what is needed to use the software in production, as well as the time lapse between what is taught and when it is applied were concerns of the production staff.

The finance department's concerns dealt with production costs exceeding their budget. Finance's interest was running DAI as a profitable, competitive business, looking less favorably at the production team's sentiment that "production is an art." While allowing for exorbitant start-up costs, the finance department was now concerned that expenditures on labor and facilities continued to exceed DAI's generated income.

Institutional Environment
DAI's mission statement identified the company's goal as the creation of animation that conforms to high artistic standards. It proposed the use of technology to achieve that goal.

Identified Issues

Introduction:

DAI as it currently exists is an organization with significant strengths both in its human resources and the technology employed; however, there are several areas of concern that compromise the company's ability to operate at peak efficiency. First are the difficulties encountered due to ineffective communication within and between departments. Due to the complex nature of the digital animation process, this large task is subdivided into manageable pieces during production. The fact that work is done in these small groups tends to compartmentalize employee knowledge, hampering the dissemination of practical solutions to problems and new innovations. The second issue relates to the input that the end user (pipeline production staff) has in the development and implementation of training and software development. The third identified issue concerns training that is provided out of context with the end user's tasks. Finally, the nine-month time constraint to demonstrate an improvement in productivity is an issue.

A. Communication:

Several of the interviews indicated that employees with traditional artistic backgrounds were at odds with employees with more technical backgrounds, seemingly reluctant to pool their expertise in each of these vital areas. A self-proclaimed "old-timer" animator and a young rotoscoper, who is relatively new to the field, articulated the concerns of these divergent groups. Some management personnel expressed concern about the lack of artistic training and desired a return to "community" that characterized the field in an earlier time.

Goals:
All DAI employees will be able to communicate effectively in order to provide:

• wide access to the knowledge base of employees
• clear goals for each task undertaken
• feedback as to the reasons a particular product fails to meet those goals
• a path for rapid diffusion of any innovation which supports DAI's mission
• an environment which is better able to support the intensity of the pipeline production method

Strategies:

1. The training team will develop an Intranet-based forum for discussion that will include the following elements:
   • Newsgroups organized along task lines, supporting the transfer of knowledge between project areas.
   • An "Innovation" area composed of newly developed practices, which newsgroup participants have recognized as being a significant improvement over current practices.
   • Articles that profile particular positions and functions in the organization and relate that specific area to the mission of DAI.
   • Regular status reports on the project currently in the "pipeline".
   • A well-indexed database containing information "mined" from the newsgroups and innovation areas. This will provide access to information during project periods and perpetual task support.
2. The company will designate a period of time following the completion of each project as the debriefing phase; a series of informal meetings will catalog successes, failures, and lessons learned. Following this period, management will make proposals for change based on the conclusions of the groups.
3. The training department will implement a cross discipline "mentor" program that will pair animators with "techies" to encourage formal and informal communication of knowledge.

B. End User Input

No system exists for the collection and discussion of pipeline production members' concerns regarding software difficulties, software changes, and training. One of the animators expressed that "[techies] never talk to us about what we need or how we use the software." These comments are consistent with information gleaned from one of the programmers who stated that the debriefing of software issues during development is more dependent on feedback from the "techies" than the animators.

Goal: Employees, whose job responsibilities include software development, Intranet development and/or training, will be able to effectively utilize end user input from across the organizational structure in the development and implementation of software/Intranet training.

Strategies The training department will build and maintain an electronic forum (EPSS) as a mechanism for:

• end users to raise issues/concern with software needs.
• end users to request training needs.
• The training department will conduct a perpetual needs assessment to aid the development of training needs and goals.

C. Content of training workshops is out of context with end user tasks

Pipeline staff expressed frustration with encountering technical roadblocks, preventing them from completing tasks. They related that most of the workshops offered during down time provided a general overview of the software, but did not address specific tasks required during production. Several interviewees suggested providing one-on-one, on-task time with a technical "expert".

Goal: The training department will provide on-time and on-task software support during production.

Strategies
The training department will:

1. Implement an EPSS(Employee Performance Support System) through the use of technical "in-house" experts.
2. Increase utilization and effectiveness of existing on-line help (tips).
3. Increase effectiveness of vendor workshops by "tailoring" them to end users' specific concerns.

D. Time Restraints for Improvements:

Due to the nature of the animation process, implementation of improvements within the training department is impeded by the production cycle. The company has peak production times followed by a down time when training has traditionally occurred. The pipeline will be in production 4-5 months during the 9-month period that Jason has to implement a support system.

Goal: The pipeline production staff will show performance improvement within 9 months.

Strategy:
Design and rapid-prototype a conceptual framework that will be implemented during production. The design will be evaluated and revised with feedback from all pipeline production staff and supervisors.

Drinking the last of his coffee, Jason shuts down his computer and prepares to leave for the day when Cynthia walks by his carrel.

"Jason, I just got a memo from Ellen Peterson, you know, the Dragon Lady and she said that this quarter's end figures look better than last quarter. I don't know much about your ID process but it really has affected the pipeline! The assessments, the prototyping, all these things helped identify where we need to improve."

"Well Cynthia, it's a pretty detailed process but it really forces you to pinpoint the problem areas. And by pinpointing the problems, the goals we created for DAI are more specific and realistic."

"It's a huge compliment from Ellen!"

"Well, I didn't get to know her and what she does that well. If I'd had more time to talk to her I would have asked more questions about the budget, finance, what she understands about the animation process. Like how does she determine the budget? Or how is the allocation of money to movie companies, directions, projects handled? Just some things like that."

"That's interesting. What other things would you have liked to have know for your assessment?"

"Well, you know, we are really headed in the right direction. But I would have liked to meet with the service staff, the technical directors, and more people in the pipeline. Actually, I'm thinking of focusing on these departments to see how they could assist in improving the pipeline even more."

"Jason you can do whatever you want. You're golden!! Your point of view is fresh and what we need at DAI. Glen Michener was even impressed with your questions about software."

"That's flattering. Software is a big issue around here. I wish I could ask him more about it and how he chooses it. It would be interesting to see how his decisions really impact the pipeline. The vendors, our department..."

"Jason go home!!! Rest before you go any further."

"Thanks!"