I’m an IT (Information Technology) project manager and avid video hobbyist (lowercase ‘a’!) and I could have worked for that large Internet company. Your post is very interesting as it underlines two very different ways of addressing work organization. So please allow me to give what could have been the other side’s perspective!

They addressed their need like an IT project: define what tasks you need to accomplish, figure out how many man-days that represent, take a reasonable assumption for the average cost of 1 man-day then add expenses, and you have a budget. Once you have a go, define what resource profiles you need (*) to accomplish the tasks, call up talent houses and screen potential candidates based on previous curriculum (resume) and cost, then finally interview that happy short list and choose. If the person wrote a credible resume with relevant experience, you can easily challenge that in the interview and will usually make up your choice based on personality - do I think the person has what it takes to address this particular challenge in these particular context and constraints. People don’t need so much of a personal network to get hired, that’s what talent houses are in for.

(*) ‘Resource’ = talented professional

This is a fairly open situation, which allows people to learn and grow on every project. I’d say that 40% of people’s success in that industry is linked to proven technical skills, while the remaining 60% is tied to the ability to think right and communicate right. Hire someone who can grow on spot with relevant experience, they may serve your success better than the long-time expert.

You see, cost is a decision factor right from the start, because skills and experience levels are very much comparable among people - this is not a creative industry, it’s a plan-and-deliver industry. That’s another big difference. Very much contrary to the media community, in IT you’re not going to insist very long on hiring a quite experienced and expensive and talented expert on the belief that he/she alone will make an overwhelming difference. Because you once candidly did on another project, and that guru just ended up ruining team morale and client communication.

So how do you save the project? That’s where the 2 industries ultimately concur: when all management keeps talking and talking with no clue what they are talking about and Titanic is heading towards its iceberg, you hire a talented project manager (you would call him/her Producer?) and he/she is going to address the right people mix within budget and schedule. And in the end, this is not going to deliver any better than the project manager’s own abilities and talent, within the budget and schedule constraints that he/she is allowed which ordinarily won’t move.

Sounds familiar?

P.S: I love the blogs at ProVideo Coalition, esp. yours and Adam’s. Thank you so much for all that you share, keep it up.

Posted by Stephan  on  08/08  at  01:22 AM

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In this business we’re not ITs, we’re ETs. Emotional Technicians. Our job is not just to provide you with the info its to make you feel the information and have that change you in some way.

I’ve worked with a lot of large corporations that didn’t understand that and wondered why their communications never worked as well as they should.

A college degree and a good resume is no guarantee of of the ability communicate feelings or ideas.

Posted by davhud  on  08/11  at  12:42 PM

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I disagree with this statement:

“In the end, for negotiation to work, both sides have to have a position to negotiate from. Their side had no position.”

Negotations can often create a lowball position or low starting point. This begins the process of the negotation. Similar to car sales people often lowball in an attempt to begin the negotations at a fraction of what they’ll actually pay. just my .02

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Posted by jamesb  on  01/30  at  02:05 AM

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Posted by mirage Delft Exotic bag  on  03/21  at  03:02 AM

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Negotiating is not an easy thing, experience is a must have.

Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)  on  04/19  at  05:53 PM

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