#every single moment i spend being a content creator is a moment im not spending continuing the momentum we keep to trying to build

[essential-randomness]

TFW you realize there's a typo in the title of the post of your very important content hours after posting it

In my defense, it took me 2 and a half hours to write the copy and post it across 4 different socials (and this is in addition to the time that took me to write the blog post) so by the time I got to Tumblr I was literally dying. You have no idea how grueling every single piece of this work is going to be.

I don't really know why I'm saying this, but I guess if the spirit of 2024 is (also) to help people understand the reality of what we're fighting against, then I should let people know that every single piece of content I'm going to put out is hours and hours of work I wish I was spending on actually making the incredibly important progress that is right in front of me.

[rainbowsky]

Final round-up of fan fic asks

I've gotten a few more interesting responses to the fan fic discussion so I'm going to round them all up here. This will be my final post on the topic until/unless there's a dramatic new development, or a particularly notable response I want to highlight. Thanks to everyone who brought their thoughts and experiences to the topic. I hope everyone at least feels heard.

The biggest piece of advice that I would like to offer is for everyone to focus on what they love rather than what they hate. If we all did that, the world would be a better place. Alongside that, I'd like to remind everyone to please support authors whose work you like. It's so important. Give them a kudos, give them a nice comment, recommend their work to others. You never know what kind of grief and harassment they are dealing with to bring you these great stories, and our support means a lot.

This is in reference to previous posts here and here.

Anonymous asked:

With regard to fandom and fan fic issue, my years of experience being part of very large fandoms has led me to believe that big accounts are v important in facilitating and enforcing the general consensus of the whole fandom. Unless there will be big accs who'll remind everyone of being respectful & just not being a dick over other's preferences, nothing will change.

This is also the reason why I think certain solo fandoms have adapted weird and twisted narratives as their general fandom story because no big acc has tried to police them & and say hey pls be rational. Whether we like it or not, in a place where how far voices, ideas, tweets, posts get heard is based on the number of followers you have, big accs will have the power and influence in creating/curating/shifting the narratives.

So, if you want to know why your/our fandom thinks like this in general, look at what big accs are tweeting/posting, look at what ideas & values they follow, look at their preferences or how strongly they react to certain situations. it's taxing and toxic for big accs given the nature of social media these days, but it's also the reality of system, the more followers/audience you have, the more influence you will have.

So to anyone reading this I hope we all practice more restraint and reflection before we post anything. Remember that words, no matter what medium you write it in, will always carry weight.

So true. It is easy - even for myself who spends a fair chunk of time answering people's asks - to forget that people can sometimes be impressionable and what we say can influence people whether that's our intent or not. I get used to thinking of myself as a regular guy just doing my own thing when sometimes my thoughts and words go well beyond where I initially posted them.

I think it's important for us to be careful what we say, and it's equally important to be careful what we take from what other people say. Especially when it comes to big claims. Always get a second, third, fourth opinion and don't be afraid to ask for clarification if something doesn't sit right or sounds confusing.

It's also important to reflect on how our words and actions might affect other people's experience of fandom, and err on the side of 'live and let live' wherever possible. It's great to have our own preferences and to champion them, but we should try to do so in a way that leaves space for other people and perspectives.

The more unique perspectives and the more friendly, open dialog there is, the healthier the community will be as a whole.

There's nothing wrong with encouraging and guiding growth in the particular areas we are interested in, as long as it doesn't step on, oppress or attack those who are peacefully enjoying something different.

Anonymous 2 asked: bjyx fans attacking gdgdbaby for including zsww/lsfy dynamics in an event named bjyx then turning right around and attacking the zsww/lsfy event organizer for excluding bjyx? god, can you hear my facepalm and sigh of resignation and incredulity from over there? im genuinely not surprised that they're trying to drive an entire part of the fandom out by disgusting them (and me) with these immature tactics. i believe what im about to say next will sound quite bait-y and i respect your decision 1/?

should you choose not to post this. but i do know that it is not only me, in fact there are many out there, that is of this opinion. we just dont talk about it on twitter to avoid the potential mess it will bring lol. okay, here goes nothing. (do note that im talking about the majority here, not every single person is like this) so bjyx fans tend to be cishet females whereas zsww/lsfy fans are more diverse in terms of age and gender, and most of them are part of the queer community too 2/?

i would like to clarify that most of these zsww/lsfy fans are not dynamic exclusive (in the sense that they are friendly and interact with all ggdd fans) they just prefer to "identify" themselves as zsww/lsfy fans (on twitter specifically) just to form a distinction from bjyx fans who mostly are dynamic exclusive (as in; they do not consume non-bjyx content, and straightup refuse to interact with non-bjyx fans, often blocking them). as a result, id say that the zsww/lsfy communiy is way more 3/?

mature and respectful (after all, they're mostly queer people talking about a queer ship) whereas many problems in this fandom, such as the homophobia, adamantly insisting on "drawing lines" between dynamics, stem from the bjyx exclusive fans, comprised of cishet females who "may not know better". so, it is of no surprise to me that they're resorting to these immature tactics of calling gg unsavory names, and organizing retaliatory events with controversial topics in an attempt to "purify". 4/4

I trust that you have arrived at that theory through your own experience and observation. I haven't personally spent much time immersed in this stuff so I can't claim to have any real insight or expertise. If you say that's your experience of it, then at the very least that's how you've seen things up to this point.

I just want to say that I think we should always be careful about making assumptions about people's age, gender/gender identity, etc.

There are plenty of good reasons to avoid doing that; because those assumptions could be very wrong, because those assumptions are often laced with ageism, sexism, etc., because those assumptions - even when correct - might not be an accurate basis for the conclusions we draw.

But the primary reason I recommend avoiding those type of assumptions is because anything that enables us to clump a group of people together in our minds like that will tend to make them easier to demonize and dehumanize. They are no longer individuals who are each responsible for their own unique perspectives, they are now 'the X group' who is known for 'A B C series of easily attackable ideas or behaviors'.

If we attribute undesirable traits and behaviors to a group of people we feel opposed to in some way, that makes us feel more righteous and justified in behaving unfairly toward them, dismissing their humanity and warring with them. It's just risky behavior to engage in, even when it's well-intentioned.

There might actually be some truth to what you're saying. It could very well be that most of these people are young, inexperienced, heteronormative, etc. but if that's the case then we should try to use those traits to better understand and empathize rather than to better dismiss and discredit.

Just my two cents on that.

It can be really frustrating dealing with what feels like other people attacking us, trying to oppress us, etc. - especially when there are more of them than there are of us. In my experience the best solutions to that sort of problem are generally the ones that focus on what we are doing and want to do rather than what they are doing that we don't want them to do.

As I am always preaching, we can't control what other people say, do or think. The only thing we have any control over is what we say, do and think (and how we respond to what they say, do and think).

I have found in my experience that the moment I step out of a conflict mindset and instead step into a problem-solving mindset, everything starts to come together. I feel better, my outlook is more positive, I can begin to see solutions and allies rather than problems and enemies, and most of all, I become more focused on what I am doing than what others are doing.

So I would recommend everyone who is invested in resolving these conflicts focus on that. "How can we best showcase and encourage the types of stories we enjoy?" instead of "How can we stop these other people from doing things we dislike?"

Anonymous 3 asked:

Hello again! It’s anon #3 from the fanfic post. I really do appreciate reading your thoughts on various issues like this, so thank you for always taking time to write in depth. As for supporting without going to war, the simplest way has always been to just show appreciation for the creators, hype them up. Kudos are the easiest way on ao3 but comments in addition are great. This goes for all content—art, fics, vids..etc. Creators love to see and read how people react to their content. Sharing is also great, fic recs are very helpful, just be cautious with art and reposting though. Hope this helps a bit!

Thanks so much, Anon. I think this is excellent advice. And it's true that appreciation is great, but helping to expand the audience is also great. Recommending stories, pointing people to the pages/websites of artists we like (as opposed to reposting), sharing our own ideas and approaches, encouraging people to try new things... all of this helps build healthier communities.

And here's another one: WRITE! DRAW! CREATE!

I urge anyone with creative interests or talents to bring their voices to the community because we all can benefit from hearing from you.

Thanks again everyone for sharing your thoughts on this issue. I hope that over time we can all work in positive ways to improve the situation.

I think this subject has been well-covered now so I'm going to retire it for the time being. If anyone still feels they want to discuss it further please feel free to message me privately. Thanks.

[calpalirwin]

Marrying Kind

Summary: Sometimes you do get to pick your family

A/N: Based on that idea I was tagged in by @lala200511 (not sure why it’s not letting me tag... anywho...)

Content: Soft, dorkiness

Word Count: 1.5k

And away, and away we go!

__

Every time they got asked the inevitable question of how they met, Calum and Rebecca always shared a laugh followed by a shrug. It was funny for them on two counts. One, it was generally asked on the assumption that they were a couple, which they were not. Two, they couldn’t actually remember how they had met.

It was the type of friendship that had always existed. The one where their parents whispered about how cute their wedding would be when they grew up. The one that often found them walking into their home with the other already sitting at the kitchen table, smirking, “Glad you could join us.”

Calum could hear the happy chatter from the kitchen, the smell of whatever was being cooked wafting through the house. “Smells good in here, Mum,” he called out as he followed his nose. “What’re y- You’re not Mali.” While the words were true, they came out sharper than he intended due to his surprise.

“See, Joy? Your boy’s smart!” Rebecca quipped.

“Ha-ha,” Calum said without humor. “I just wasn’t expecting you to be here already.”

“Well it’s not as much fun to surprise you when you’re expecting it, now is it?”

“Becks understands how much I love it when my children come to visit. Unlike other children of mine who shall remain nameless. You haven’t happened to see any of them, have you? Maybe my son in particular? Looks an awful lot like you,” Joy’s eyes crinkled in the corners as she smiled, her arms opening wide for a hug. 

Rebecca could see the family resemblance as Calum’s own eyes scrunched up as he hugged his mum tight. “Yeah, yeah, we’ve always known Becks is your favorite, Mum.”

“Well, you’ll always be my favorite son,” Joy continued to tease, giving Calum’s cheeks a small pinch.

He wiped imaginary tears from his eyes before resting his hand over his heart. “I’m so touched.”

~~~

“You know, Cal, you should find a nice girl and settle down like your friends,” Joy told him as he helped her with the dishes. Rebecca had excused herself shortly after they finished eating on the premise of giving them some alone time, but not before promising Joy she’d be back tomorrow so they could go to the farmer’s market like they did every Saturday.

“You say that every time I come home, Mum,” Calum pointed out.

“That’s because I mean it. I know your band makes you happy. But you deserve someone to come home to.”

“I do,” Calum insisted, a smile spreading across his face. “I come home to you.”

Joy scoffed good-naturedly. “Someone who’s not actually your family. But someone who feels like it.”

“So someone like Becks?”

“Oh, I would love that! She’s like a daughter to me already. Always coming over to visit. And she already knows all my recipes. You’d be great together. It would be just like it is now, only then she’d really be my daughter.”

“Well, there’s one problem with that, Mum. Becks and I aren’t dating.”

“Cal, girls like Becks come around once in a lifetime. And when they do, you don’t take her out for coffee, and call her the next day.  You put a ring on her finger, and call her your wife.”

“Well, that day might come sooner than you think,” Calum confessed, patting one of his jean pockets.

Joy’s eyes lit up for a second before she frowned. “Wait. I’m confused. You said the problem was that you weren’t dating, but you have a ring?”

Calum nodded. “I’ve had the ring for a while.” Then, a story was falling off his lips. A story about how before he left for London he had mentioned as a joke that they should get married. About how Rebecca had joked back that she would if she liked the ring and the proposal was better than the half-assed idea he was spewing now. About how Rebecca had checked on him after hearing the news about Michael’s engagement to make sure he was okay with all of his brothers paired off and moving on with that aspect of their lives. How he admitted to her that he had remained single for a reason; that he already had a girl he wanted to marry. “And I told Becks it was her. She wasn’t surprised or anything,” Calum started to wrap up his tale. “And we know we have things to work out still. But-“

“But it’s you and Becks. You’ve known each other your whole lives. While you may not have actually dated, your relationship has a strong foundation of love. You’ve seen every version of each other, and no matter how long you’re gone, every time you come back, you two fall in line like no time has passed. It doesn’t have to make sense to the rest of the world, Cal. It just has to make sense to you and Becks.”

~~~

“Wow, you look… wow,” Calum smiled as he got the car door for Rebecca. 

Rebecca blushed slightly. “Thanks. You clean up good yourself. Wanna tell me what this is all about?”

“Nah,” he smirked as he closed the door for her and went around the other side to get in the driver’s seat.

Her eyes were narrowed, and she wore a small scowl. “You know I hate surprises.”

“Oh, trust me,” he continued to smirk. “It’s not a surprise. Or it shouldn’t be.” He laughed as her scowl deepened. “Do you trust me?”

“Always. Although I’m starting to regret that choice right about now.”

He laughed more, reaching over to pat her thigh.

They fell silent as he drove to the restaurant- a mom and pop type diner they used to frequent when they were kids. He had thought about taking her somewhere much nicer, but the diner already held so many memories for them, that it only seemed right that it should hold this one too. 

“You had us dress up for some burgers and shakes?” Rebecca’s eyebrow was arched as Calum pulled into a parking spot. 

“Drop the skepticism, and trust me, Becks,” he chided before getting out of the car.

“Trust you a whole lot more if you clued me in on what we’re doing,” she told him as they walked across the gravel lot.

“Getting dinner.”

“Smartass…”

The bell on the door jangled as they stepped inside. “For two?” the hostess asked.

“Yes, please,” Calum answered.

“Right this way.”

Calum didn’t clue in Rebecca on what he was doing when they sat down, instead making idle chit chat. Idle chit chat that he kept going until they had nearly finished their food and Rebecca finally cut him off with an, “Okay, Cal. This is clearly more than just two friends going out for a bite to eat. What’s the big news?”

“Becks, you know I love you, right?”

“Of course I do. And I love you too, Cal.”

“Good, that’s good,” he nodded, pulling the box out from his pocket. “Put out your hands and close your eyes.”

“Okay…” She did as he directed. “What the hell are you up to, Hood?”

“Shh, just trust me,” he chuckled. He opened up the box, taking out the delicate ring and slipping it onto her left ring finger. “Alright, you can look.”

The slight gasp she let out when the cool metal graced her finger, grew louder. “Oh, Calum!” she breathed happily, admiring the gold band engraved with small diamonds across the top. Her amazement was short-lived however as her mind caught up with what was happening. “Calum Thomas Hood, how dare you!”

“How dare I, what, Becks?!” he shot back, jumping on the defensive.

“How dare you take this moment from me! A proposal should be something a woman experiences once in her life, and you just tainted mine!”

“How did I taint it?! You think I’m joking?! C’mon, Becks, I’m not that cruel.”

“T-this isn’t a joke?”

“No. Becks, I’ve known you my whole life. And I don’t say that as an exaggeration.”

“No, I know.”

“Shh, I’m not finished. Becks, you’ve always been there for me. Every important moment of my life has you in it. And I want you to keep being in those moments because without you, they wouldn’t be important.”

“Then why can’t you just ask me on a date, Cal? Y’know, like a sane person?”

“Because you’re not the girl guys like me take out to dinner, and call the next day,” he told her, borrowing his mother’s words. “You’re the girl guys like me put a ring on, and call their wife. So, Rebecca, will you marry me?”

“Of all the people to love and spend my life with, I’ll choose you every time, Cal. Yes, I’ll marry you.”

“Oh, thank God!” he chuckled in relief. “That was gonna be an awkward drive home if you said no. Plus, you woulda broke poor Mum’s heart.”

She reached over the table to give his shoulder a soft shove. “At least I know my in-laws love me.”

“Hey, I love you, too.”

“Yeah, yeah. Love you too. Wow… Calum Hood, my husband. Crazy, huh?”

“Nah. Crazy is us marrying anybody else.”

__

Tag List

@frontmanash​​ @goeatsomelife​​ @flameraine​​ @creator-appreciator​​ @cxddlyash​​ @1-irwin-94​​ @sparkling-calm​​ @tea4sykes​​ @youngblood199456​​ @5-seconds-of-obsession​​ @gosh-im-short​​ @aquarius-hood1996​​ @talkfastromance4​​ @itjustkindahappenedreally​​ @philthepegacorn​​ @boomerash​​ @teenwolfss24​​

[tomsnovia]

As Long As You’re Happy - G.D.

Y/N POV

It was my first flight back to LA after being with my family for just a little over three months. Spending the holidays back at home was always something that I looked forward to every year. Now that I live thousands of miles away from home I try to take times like these to my advantage to catch up with my family and finally just spend time with everyone. But at this point I was ready to go home. Back to the warm and sunny Los Angeles. Back to the little friends that I have made throughout my couple of years being there. Back to my tall, handsome, 200 pound beefy boyfriend, Grayson Dolan.

Today was Valentine’s Day. A day where everyone is supposed to celebrate their relationships with their significant others. I never really cared for this day. I mean I did spend a good portion of my life single but that is besides the point. Valentines Day was just another day for me up until last year. Last Valentines Day I finally got to experience what all the hype is about. And lucky for me it just so happened to be with someone like Grayson.

A couple of years ago I moved to LA to finally be able to pursue my dreams. Sure I was just barely getting started in the YouTube business but I felt like I was finally at a point in my career where I could potentially live off of the earnings that I made through the platform. My family supported me of course. My parents being more than willing to help aid me in anything financially if I needed (thank the lord). But I took this as an opportunity to finally live my life the way that I wanted. To finally be out in the world as a strong, independent woman (even though I am still technically a teenager).

The first few months of me being in LA went by pretty smooth. I finally met up with some fellow content creators who I have grown fairly close to in such a short amount of time. But this one day.. Whew! This one day is where everything changed for me.

*flashback*

I had gotten invited to a little celebration dinner by my friend Kyle Houck. He had been working on a project with a few of his friends for about a month or so. Kyle and I hadn’t really talked to each other for a while prior to this invitation just because he had been so busy with helping a couple of people film for their channel. So I had absolutely no idea what this celebration dinner was for or why he even invited me.

I of course accepted (mainly because I had absolutely no plans that night other than to lay in bed and watch Netflix or whatever) and found myself dressing semi formal for the occasion. Kyle kept the details very vague. He just told me to dress “kinda fancy but like not too fancy”. 

As soon as Kyle picked me up we wasted no time catching up with each other. I asked him what he had been up to and what he had been working on for the past month and he very excitedly told me that it was a documentary for his friends’ father. His friends who just so happened to be The Dolan Twins.

When I heard about the big project I felt.. a lot of things. One: Stoked and proud of Kyle. Two: like an absolute idiot that I had no knowledge of his relationship with a couple of very successful creators. I mean Kyle was my best friend.. How long was it since we last talked?.. Was I really living under a rock? UGH.

Once we finally arrived we met up with everyone who took part of the documentary.

“Hi,” I said as Kyle and I approached the twins.

“Hey guys, this is Y/N. She’s my friend from back home who I’ve been talking about,” Kyle said.

“Oh right! We heard a lot about you! It’s nice to finally put a face to a name,” Ethan chuckled. “Im Ethan,” he said pulling me into a hug.

“I’m Y/N, it’s nice to meet you,” I smiled hugging him back. The moment I let go of the hug my eyes immediately laid on what I believed to be one of the most beautiful human beings I have ever seen in my entire life. You know- not to be dramatic or anything..

“I’m Grayson,” he said also pulling me into a hug.

“It’s nice to meet you both. Congratulations on the documentary!” I said as we all made our way to the table. I sat next to Kyle, Grayson immediately sitting to my left. Ethan walked over to the other side of the table and sat next to a really pretty girl.

“I’m sorry I couldn't make it to the premier.. I didn't know that was a thing,” I said fixing my vision on Kyle.

“Im sorry! I completely forgot to mention it, my mind went straight to dinner” Kyle chuckled. I smiled and shook my head.

“So how have you been? How do you like LA so far?” Kyle asked as he took a sip of his drink.

“Uh.. well you know, its going okay I guess,” I shrugged. I had only been in LA for a couple of months and this technically is my first outing. I hadn't had much time to get out there because of all the unpacking, and my new found responsibilities taking over my life.

“If Im being honest, this is my first time actually going out since I moved in,” I said as I looked at the menu.

“No kidding?” Kyle asked.

“Kyle, you’re my only friend out here and you’ve been busy this whole time,” I chuckled.

“Fair enough,” he smiled. I skimmed over the menu trying to decide what I wanted to eat. For some reason my appetite completely vanished the second Kyle and I stepped foot into the restaurant.

I’ve never really been good at the whole socializing aspect of life. Being antisocial is sorta my cup of tea.

I sat there in silence, using the menu as an excuse for me not to talk. I was actually pretty focused until Grayson spoke up.

“So where are you from?” He asked as he put his menu down looking at me. If I’m being honest, the moment I made eye contact with Grayson my heart started to beat so fucking fast. His face lit perfectly despite the dim lighting in the restaurant. The way his hair slowly fell down the sides of his face when he would run his fingers through it. Oh what I would do to run my fingers through-

“Washington State,” I said quickly snapping out of my thoughts. “I just moved here a couple of weeks ago.”

“Oh wow! So you’re pretty new to the area?” He asked.

“Yeah.. which is why I haven't really had a chance to go out until tonight. I don’t know anyone besides Kyle here,” I chuckled.

Grayson smiled and nodded. “Well now you know me!”

_______________________________

The whole dinner went smoother than I thought it would. Grayson was very outgoing and easy to talk to and having Kyle there next to me helped ease the little tension I felt occasionally. The dinner was finally coming to an end and we were all getting ready to head home.

“Hey, what're you doing tomorrow?” Grayson asked looking down at me as we both stood up. I quickly took out my phone to check the date.

“Um.. nothing I guess?” I said looking up at him. “I’m most likely gonna end up unpacking some more stuff.”

“You want some help? We can go out to get some breakfast before or something?..” 

YES ARE YOU KIDDING ME? PLEASE LETS-

“Sure!” I smiled up at him. “Is 9 o’clock okay? I need to sleep in at least a little bit,” I laughed.

“Sounds perfect,” Grayson smiled and bit his bottom lip. “Can I get your number?”

“Of course,” I said taking his phone. I added my name into his contact list as “Y/N :)” just a little something quirky. idk. I’m not good at this.

__________________________________

1 New Message

Grayson: 9 AM it is! Can’t wait to bring you to THE BEST breakfast place in LA. Goodnight Y/N 😊

Me: Can’t wait! Goodnight Grayson.

Grayson: You can call me Gray 

Grayson: Only if you want to

Grayson: It's not a big deal if you don’t want to. I don’t want to make you do anything you don't want to do..

Grayson: Even if it is just a little nickname..

Grayson: Okay I’m sorry for the spam

I laughed.

Me: It’s okay! 😂 See you tomorrow. Goodnight Gray ☺️

Gray: Goodnight Y/N :)

_______________________________________

[ a/n: AHHHHHH here it is! the first part to my first series ahhhhhhh. idk how I feel about it tbh lol like I feel like its bad but im going to really take my time with this series just so I dont rush things. I genuinely want it to be good. pls let me know what you guys think. I won't take anything too harsh. ily all I hope you enjoyed even the tiniest bit ♥️

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing 12-18 April 2020

Here’s this week’s roundup!

Remember to give your content creators some love! And join in on the events at the bottom!

~Mod Hel

Fanfiction/Snippets/AU Ideas:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb​

Dark Chocolate https://archiveofourown.org/works/23651368

F/M, Heero Yuy/Reader

Heero Yuy, Reader, OC - Character

Drama, Romance, Angst, Holiday, Reader Insert

You weren't really ready to celebrate being single. But maybe, you wouldn't have to celebrate after all...

Every Moment (Ch. 5) https://archiveofourown.org/works/23153275/chapters/56825695

F/M, Heero Yuy/Reader

Heero Yuy, Reader, Duo Maxwell, Chang Wufei, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, OC - Character, Lady Une, Relena Peacecraft

Romance, Drama, Angst, Lemon, Lime, Violence, Reader Insert

You really didn’t want to go on a mission with Heero Yuy. In your opinion, he was a robot, an iceberg, and as cold as the North Pole. And you really hated the fact that people started spreading rumors about you. Now, you have two weeks to get to know him better, get comfortable with the idea of playing his wife, and keep from getting into a catfight with Wufei’s secretary (who has quite a crush on Mister Yuy herself). You thought you would be able to handle the mission, but a couple of alcohol influenced kisses really send your world spinning. And it would only get worse during the mission… And really… your careless actions do have very big consequences.

Grocery shopping with the GW boys https://archiveofourown.org/works/23716735/chapters/56948875

Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wufei

Humor, silliness, Self Insert, Crack, Screenplay/Script Format

Grocery shopping can’t be such a hard task, right? Well... you’re about to find out!

Fanart/Gunpla/Photo Manips:

@2pcb

https://2pcb.tumblr.com/post/615700961745420288/trowa-with-the-im-but-a-pawn-in-my-ig-famous

 Trowa

https://2pcb.tumblr.com/post/613987135271370752/honestly-i-am-super-impressed-that-i-managed-to

Duo & Quatre

@bobo-is-tha-bomb​

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/615310053899141120/spend-this-weekend-working-on-this-oldie-its-the

 Wing Zero, gunpla

@bryony-rebb​

https://bryony-rebb.tumblr.com/post/615758106248593408/elfbingo-did-this-commission-for-me-last-summer

Zechs & Noin

@elfbingo​

@hiddenmangaka​

https://hiddenmangaka.tumblr.com/post/615719377032069120/shopping-with-the-gundam-boys-attempt-2

Grocery Shopping with the GW boys Attempt Two: Duo Maxwell

@lemontrash​

https://lemontrash.tumblr.com/post/615252540693544960/these-were-the-bits-of-cover-art-i-created-for-the

Zine works

@lokineko​

https://lokineko.com/post/615266120796160000/more-watercolor-wips-from-this-weekend-i-feel

GW boys

https://lokineko.com/post/615397726832787456/older-relena-wips

Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

https://lokineko.com/post/615618115939778560/completed-and-with-a-video-to-show-the-shiny-i

Relena Darlian/Peacecraft

@redead-red​

https://redead-red.tumblr.com/post/615505539203514368/so-im-watching-gundam-wing-for-the-first-time-and

Duo Maxwell

@saal-draws​

https://saal-draws.tumblr.com/post/615712952670109696/i-am-rewatching-gundam-wing-and-i-drew-duo-bc-hes

Duo Maxwell

@theboringbluecrayon​

https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/theboringbluecrayon/615404144053846016

Zine work

https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard/blog/theboringbluecrayon/615404519689519104

Zine work

Photosets/Gifsets/Screenshots/Manga Pages:

@northstarfan​

https://northstarfan.tumblr.com/post/615140663008313344/spiffed-up-trowa-and-quatres-place-a-bit-and-im

Trowa & Quatre’s abode.

Fandom Discourse:

@bobo-is-tha-bomb​

https://bobo-is-tha-bomb.tumblr.com/post/615659457583644672/the-first-of-my-gundam-wing-ost-cds-came-in

GW OST

Quotes:

@incorrectgundamwingquotes​

https://incorrectgundamwingquotes.tumblr.com/post/615792013355433984/vegalume-incorrectgundamwingquotes-duo-its

Duo, OZ Soldier, & Trowa

@vegalume​

Calendar Events:

@gwcocktailfriday

Cocktail Fridays!

Post responses on Friday, during Happy Hour between 3 & 5 pm in your own timezone.

Here’s the prompt for Friday, April 24th! https://gwcocktailfriday.tumblr.com/post/615743156070318080/cocktail-friday-post-responses-on-friday-april

If anyone has ideas for prompts, PLEASE send them in! Our ask box is always open.

In need of SPRING prompts!

@memories-of-gundamwing

30 Day Challenge!

Day 12 Prompt https://memoriesofgundamwing.tumblr.com/post/615200902759022592/30-day-gundam-wing-challenge-day-12

Day 13 Prompt https://memoriesofgundamwing.tumblr.com/post/615301380041801728/30-day-gundam-wing-challenge-day-13

Day 14 Prompt https://memoriesofgundamwing.tumblr.com/post/615385770849697792/30-day-gundam-wing-challenge-day-14

Day 15 Prompt https://memoriesofgundamwing.tumblr.com/post/615453800216543232/30-day-gundam-wing-challenge-day-15

Day 16 Prompt https://memoriesofgundamwing.tumblr.com/post/615577816430460928/30-day-gundam-wing-challenge-day-16

Day 17 Prompt https://memoriesofgundamwing.tumblr.com/post/615660438876782592/30-day-gundam-wing-challenge-day-17

Day 18 Prompt https://memoriesofgundamwing.tumblr.com/post/615742735227518976/30-day-gundam-wing-challenge-day-18

@wingqueero

Gundam Wing Pride Party 2020 is a GO for launch!

Follow @wingqueero for more information coming tomorrow (April 20)!!

[jungdrizzydraco]

An O.C. for Your Asses!!!

I wanna see if the characters are legit before I move forward with this short story im working on (I'm a character first kinda guy, so I work inside-out) leave any form of constructive critique you wish, they are still works in progress, thanks!!

Augustine Harriet Andersson

Age:22

Sign: Gemini (sun) Cancer (moon) Virgo (rising)

Height: 5'8

Eye Color: Formerly dark-brown, bleached to a pastel-hazel because of some dark magic fuckery

Hair Color/Cut: dark-brown,q shifting variations of a fade, whose design changes somewhat based on his thoughts and emotions (yes, this is an enchanted fade)

Build: lean, lightly muscled from years lifting cauldrons in his grandfather's potion shop

Notable Features: Dimples; left-dimple is deeper than right, multiple piercings on each ear, artificial left eye (looks organic but to magical eyes, it looks otherwise)

"Have you ever been like...fundamentally angry? I feel that way...like at my core, there's this rage that seethes and coils at the pit of my stomach, everyday, like a python that can't quite squeeze his prey all the way to death. Everytime I think I've grown up, forgiven something or someone or myself, there's this anger that tightens right back up all over again...like it's reminding me of something. Somedays...I feel like that feeling will petrify everything I've ever loved about myself, and I'll just be another slave to outrage and ego and pain...just like everyone else...haha, then I'll really be a normie."  -August Andersson, on his depression and internal anger issues.

Augustine Andersson is a witch-boy. But you could probably already tell that from looking at him: the way his eyes are almost constantly fixed towards some unseeable infinity, the way air molecules hum with fresh, manic energy around him, how he seems to absorb sunlight and the way his brown skin would filter the glow as a result of his connection to the natural...it was all very off putting to others around him for most of his young adult life. And as we all know, no one likes a freak, so such years had a hand in building his current trust issues, feelings of great anger and inadequacy, and all the tics and tricks he uses to keep such feelings at bay. He's not at a total loss; at his core he is a humanitarian, deeply compassionate and available to those who have managed to capture his heart, as well as wild and humorous. However, he keeps a tight lid on his darkest feelings and insecurities, out of fear that they may be too much for those around him (also, he might accidentally call forth a vile arch-daemon on accident, but that's neither here nor there.) After finally having had enough of his mundane time amongst the humans, he vanishes from his college campus one day and takes to the open road, hoping that like the many young, angsty teens in the movies he loves, he will find himself in his own solitude. But the best way to deal with oneself is when confronting someone else, and after a close-call with a reckless (and very cute) motorcycle rider on an interstate, August will be forced to deal with every single part of himself, the good, the bad, and the strange...

A few more things about him...

1. His father is Afro-swedish, hence his last name.

2. Loves to travel and is nomadic by nature.

3. He gets a special kind of warmth out of being moderately petty at all times.

4. He loves open spaces and bodies of water, as well as hikes through mountains (ok so he only went once in Vegas, so sue him, he really liked it!)

5. Surprisingly low maintenance, really just likes being around people that are happy, and the feeling easily rubs off on him.

6. Both positive and negative emotions easily rub off on him.

7. Can get caught up in moments of warm content, given his unstable interior life, and can get lost in wasting/spending time.

8. Gets restless easily.

9. Budding film buff, faves include Kill Bill vol. 1&2, Her, Moonrise Kingdom, Gone Girl, Blue is the Warmest Color, Moonlight, & Mean Girls.

10. August's father is very engaged with politics and civil rights, so in honor of that, he decided that his son's middle name would belong to one of the greatest figures of the civil rights movement: Harriet Tubman.

11. Favorite new movie is The Favourite.

12. Due to a lack of acceptance of his full self and the full spectrum of his sexuality, he is judgemental of others and holds them to the same near-impossible standards he holds for himself. 

13. Things he expects from others: To read his mind and conjure what he wants without saying, to have his needs and boundaries respected without actually stating so, for others to fit in whatever box he thinks they should be in, for everyone's intellect to be slightly lower than his own, but high enough not to annoy him with silly questions, ect.

14. Listens to Lorde, J. Cole, Rex Orange County, Frank Ocean, Lana Del Rey, Tyler the Creator, Young Thug and assorted film soundtracks.

15. Enjoys playing into his double-sided nature when it suits him, and has a secret glee in melding into different roles depending on who's around him.

16. Is attracted to more eccentric personalities in platonic and romantic relationships

17. Smokes weed to escape boredom. (and his problems)

18. Smokes weed because he likes the feeling.

19. Is secretly a little ratchet, but he'll kill you if you say so, it'll fuck up his reputation as the quasi-sociopathic erudite.

Magic House-Thoth

Augustine is a member of the Sacred House of Life, witches whose magic is passed down from the Egyptian Gods themselves. August himself is a descendant of an African slave-witch, once known as Ashe. She was taken to Egypt as a typical piece of cargo from zealot raiders, and was sentenced to a life of building the pyramids. Or so she would have thought: Thoth, the God of Magic and Knowledge, took pity upon her and beguiled her to follow an invisible force into the desert one night. He then revealed himself to her in his ibis-headed brilliance and bestowed upon her a set of choices: he could free her now and set her loose across the desert with all the things she would need for survival, or he could give her secrets and wisdoms unknown to man at the time, but she would have to frequently return to him for lessons. Ashe always prized knowledge and growth over any material thing, or even something such as freedom (I prefer to disagree myself). And secrets from a God must count for that much more, right? She indulged in option two. Thoth grinned and whispered to her the mysteries of life, the secrets of the stars, and the riddles of worlds lost and intangible, he spoke magick into her very soul. She would then use her newfound knowledge to fool her captors, freed any slave that would believe in her, and with her wits about them, guided them across the desert to build a library-like sanctuary, in honor of Thoth. The former slaves then learned from the god's teachings, passed through Ashe, and became witches and educators in their own right, and Ashe came to lead this new coven of magi. This is how the House of Thoth became to be. 

Magick: As a member of house of Thoth, August has the ability to manipulate various aspects of the moon, writing, hieroglyphics, knowledge and sciences, and the progression of time. His particular specialty is the creation of Moon Dust, a substance used as a medium for most of his spells. By gathering various quantities of mineral, be it: crystal, rocks, pearls, aluminum, or even silvers and golds, he can channel his magic into them and break down and rearrange their atomic components into a corrosive, abrasive substance that also tends to stick to objects due to an electric charge. This dust is also dangerous to breathe in. He tends to carry around a pouch or two on his person, as trying to create some on the fly is nearly impossible given how much time and intricacy is needed to create the substance. (I mean, working with just a pile of plain old rocks would take a couple of hours to convert, let alone harder or more distilled substances.) Spells that he has mastered so far include...

Spell of Refraction: A spell in which the moondust bonds to whomever or whatever August desires (sans the harmful effects, it's enchanted in this state) and whatever is enveloped in dust turns invisible via light refraction.

Spell of Revelations: He can spread his moondust over an area and have the pieces cling to imprints of negative emotion or dark magick. A spell used for forensic work.

Spell of Retribution: An offensive spell that uses moondust to its fullest offensive powers and creates small funnels of dust to ravage the opponent. The largest funnel made could surround a fully grown man.

Golemancy:  Can create golems out of the moon dust he has formed, usually no larger than a human toddler. They tend to take form roughly resembling lego-men (he was a big fan of the Lego Expanded Universe as a child), but one can easily be fooled by their size: each golem has the strength of three men, and can combine to further power themselves up.

There are a few spells that don't require the moon dust...

-The Veil: A surface-level illusion layered directly over the skin. This allows the caster to look like whatever he wants to look like and sound however he wants, but can be broken if struck with bad intentions (like a slap from an offended woman on the street)

 -Somnus: A very old, yet practical spell. Also one that does not require moondust, this handy spell induces sleep.  Those affected by this spell will not remember being forced to sleep, but they will have active and vivid dreams for distraction. Also necessary for Dream Diving.

-Dream Diving:  A skill Augustine has yet to master, this allows the caster to astral project into one's consciousness for complete access to the afflicted parties mind, if the brain is distracted by dreams. August has gotten stuck in several public nude dreams, and it takes long hours to remove oneself from another's mind.

-Illusion Casting 

-Temporary Madness Inducement

-Script Magick: By writing down a word or phrase on any surface that can be sufficiently marked on, whatever has been written manifests somehow, just so long as it is within his power. He can't create miracles with it though.

Top 10 Roadtrip Songs

Sobriety- Sza

No Role Moldelz-J. Cole

Sacrifices -Dreamville, assorted artists

Grown Up Fairy Tails- Chance the Rapper, Taylor Bennett 

My Boy-Billie Eilish

U.N.I.T.Y.- Frank Ocean

West Coast: Lana Del Rey

Cruise Ship-Young Thug

400 Lux-Lorde

Let Em Know- Bryson Tiller

[levyfiles]

Im pretty sure Ryan couldn't care less if Shane decided to leave unsolved he'd just find someone else just as easily as he did when Brent left. I'm also sure Ryan wouldn't care less if something happened to Shane meanwhile Shane seems like he cares about Ryan a lot and Ryan doesn't care. Shane obviously sees Ryan as a good friend, possibly a best friend meanwhile I think Ryan sees Shane as a work friend at most. Not hating or anything but it's obvious Ryan doesn't care much for Shane's presence

I almost didn’t even touch this ask because you’re just so mistaken, my dude. So wrong. I should make one thing very clear to start with. Ryan replacing Brent on the show with Shane was not an act of cruelty or indifference and as of today Ryan has never documented his feelings regarding Brent not having the time or interest in the content of the show. And here’s the kicker, Buzzfeed is chalk full of people who are Ryan’s work friends, a big plethora of people he have shit in common with and people who believe and don’t believe in ghosts. Tons of video producers and tons of skeptics and believers alike. He chose Shane though because Shane was already his friend back then and he saw him as a potential fit so he asked Shane. 

 I’m not sure if you’re new here or if we as a community don’t celebrate how much Ryan appreciates a best friend like Shane hard enough and you missed it. I have work friends too. There is always a subset of people who I look forward to getting my work day in with because they have the same work ethic I do and share many facets of my sense of humour, but , friend, pal, buddy; you don’t spend months on end on the road with a work friend and then willingly go over to their house, go see movies with him and his girlfriend, eat lunch in and out of work together, know each other’s favourite food, buy the same exact boots to match his because you like the look, see them across the room from you and pull out your phone to have them permanently on your social media because they’re saying/doing something so iconic and so funny you feel the need to document it. There is a degree of separation when it comes to not caring about someone and watching them avidly whenever they get into a comedic bit, laughing uproariously because almost everything they say is funny to you. 

Here’s a thread where Shane talks about how Ryan kept having dreams where he died and Ryan’s dreams involved his mom and Shane being murdered by aliens. The mix of family + Shane is evident.

So consider that tenet of your argument nullified. Ryan cares what happens to Shane. But Ok Ok, maybe social media isn’t your thing and you aren’t like me sapping up every single ounce of content that comes across my feeds because when I like something, I Love it so maybe you missed all their instastories together, Ryan mapping a comfortable world around Shane’s world and sure, the argument could be made that Ryan only admitted to weeping about Shane’s dream death because his mom was involved but there is also this moment in an actual postmortem episode. (A big thanks to @a-slow-disaster and @ricky-goldsworth for quick handhold and some expertise given about which episode it was when I was not equipped to scour the last few months of content to find this moment)

Regard as follows

After they discuss a scenario where Shane gets thrown on his ass by a ghost and becomes a believer, Shane posits a query that really says a lot about the way Ryan views his relationship with Shane versus the show by his answer

And Ryan after staring off into the middle distance thoughtfully in a very pain pause goes

Shane adds colour to the scenario by describing how it would be. 

Ryan had every opportunity to turn this into a joke. All the rich angles he could go with to say ‘good riddance’ but the question was so candid and abrupt, we’re getting real feelings here.

He’s babbling, thinking as he’s speaking and then

WHAT?! The SHOW. The thing he cares so much about, the actual content he makes that got you believing for some reason that Ryan would pop into the buzzfeed pool of creators and video producers and grab a Shane replacement as if, after 3 years, he could possibly envision his work on this show as having anyone other than Shane.

Even Shane is nonplussed. He wasn’t asking expecting this answer, you can tell.

I’m not even the first person to break this moment down. This moment shook the community up and we all cried on that day because Ryan cares about Shane’s part in this show because Shane is his best friend. For all the razzing, the prickly remarks and the jokes (of which they’re both complicit) Ryan features Shane as a part of his life that isn’t just work. If it was just work, then he wouldn’t say this 

Where it’s work; where it’s money concerned, Ryan isn’t interested in that noise if the best staple of doing it is gone. If Shane isn’t there to bring what he brings to the table, if the dynamic changes, if the jokes aren’t as fun, if he isn’t working with his best friend, then what’s the point of doing something they wound up building together. 

I wish I could find the post that subsequently broke down the moment afterward when Shane said he Would be thinking of the show and the implication was wrapped around the pinpricks of his words because of course, you know Shane thinks the world of Ryan and this project Ryan started but Ryan would toss the whole thing out if it meant for a second that Shane couldn’t be apart of it. 

Honestly, I believe that if Shane ever needed to leave the show, Ryan would give the whole thing a rehaul and do something different and we’d lose the formula completely. 

I don;t know what to say differently to let you know just how incorrect this ask was and god knows, we all miss stuff when we’re watching casually but heaven forfend, nonny, that we ever accuse Ryan of being so callous.

[bittersweet-mojo]

Im really really happy with the finale but fuck yall im also especially content with fourteen fifteen. 

Character death has been a very sensitive topic for me this whole summer, because of my very abrupt exit out of the CR fandom and the sheer amount of bad feelings there. I was so deep into that special interest at the time of Molly’s death that the absolute betrayal of the amount of trust I put into the creators shook me to my core. I had literally planned to spend this whole summer catching up on the past season and watching all the live recordings that suddenly feeling such revulsion whenever I thought about them left me with literally nothing to distract me. It fucking sucked and thinking about it, probably was the beginning of the minor bout of depression ive been dealing with for the past couple months. I finally moved on by jumping back into the fatt fandom because, for all of my minor critique of some of austin’s storytelling, he’s not going to fucking brutally murder the most visibly queer character on his show. It’s not even in the realm of possibility. 

But damn you guys i could write a fucking essay on working through mourning and death in the stories you create and how CR made every mistake you could possibly make dealing with it. And nothing showed that more than when returning to fatt I remembered Fourteen fucking existed. 

Fourteen was the fucking opposite of every mistake CR made. Fatt has done seasons on tragedy before, I mean jeez i was surprised how happy this season’s ending turned out to be! Like, where CR might be dramatic it’s still fucking goofy as hell but that’s because of the acting and how in character all the physical comedy is. But fatt is much more removed, they arent actors, theyre telling a story. And with people like austin, jack, art and janine who are more predisposed to tragedy and quietness those moments tend to shine through much more than their goofs as friends. But with this predisposition they can deal with themes like death and depression so much better than the CR cast ever could. Molly’s death had so much wrong with it id have to make a whole separate post to go over that but i think one of the worst grievances was thinking they could deal with the topic of fucking DEATH of all things, on a whim. there wasnt any planning involved at all and that, if anything, is a topic that REQUIRES a trigger warning. All the people involved and the audience need to know about it or you’re going to be treading into some really fucked up territory. 

Fourteen’s entire character was designed around the fact that they were going to die at the end of the season. It was discussed in the very first episode and made clear every single time we talked about them, they are terminally ill. They are dying. That fact negated any shock or horrible surprise. It gave them an easy way to talk through the process of mourning and an easy way to make sure fourteen’s character arc would still happen with no chance of it being horribly cut short like Molly. And there was a focus on their illness. Their loss of memories and how that affected the way they acted was integral to their character. And it meant that when they did loose memories, you didnt loose other important parts of the story with it. Going back to molly, fourteen was not the only queer character, hell they weren’t even the only pc who used they/them pronouns. The queer audience never had to worry about loosing the only person ‘like them’ in the cast like CR’s trans audience did. 

And their death was quiet. we didn’t even see it on screen, it happened after all the events of the story. There was no gory details or horrible executioner. The characters mourned with fourteen themself. They lasted longer than they thought they would and id like to presume they were happy when they died.

Anyway, this is a shitty summary on how fatt is helping me get over how bad molly’s death was. I could write an actual essay, but i have school work to do so im not gonna. 

[lforlavender]

every single person that enters our life - for a brief moment or for years and years, is destined to do so by the will of Allah s.w.t.

every coming and going.every salaam and goodbye,every 1st shy smile and every last painful goodbye are all part of the beautiful story that He has written for us. A story woven so intricately that we sometimes get too caught up in d small details till we forget to marvel at the perfect,masterful design of the Creator.

i went thru terrible heartbreak and tears bcause i loved for all d wrong reasons. i did not understand d meaning of friendship and relationships. i gave all my heart in exchange for promises,for time,for company.not understanding that hearts,time and life are never mine to control. i lost myself when people came and when they left, not seeing that it was only by His will that they did.

i realized dat it is not so much bout time we spend together,how much fun we hve together,not about promises to keep,not about proving our love for one another.Rather,its about honouring d gift dat He s.w.t has given and being grateful for dat gift for as long as they remain in our

life.

It is about giving for His sake.and not expecting any returns. it is about being content and patient when He retrives them,knowing they and the love u shared, were never yours to begin with.it is bout keeping these gifts close to u, by whispering their names in our sujuud.

every person dat enter or leaves,in happiness or in heartbreak,are guests sent to color our lives. Honor them when they arrive and send them off with Allah’s protection as they leave.i know, He has complete Knowledge and Mercy for all things, including d lives of two souls He has woven together, even if only for a brief moment.And for that, ALHAMDULILLAH, im forever grateful for that🌹

[djsamaha-blog]

5 Ways to Harness Time and Data in Your Content Process

November 7th, 2017

“The theory of relativity put an end to the idea of absolute time,” wrote Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time. “It appeared that each observer might have his own measure of time, as recorded by a clock carried with him, and that identical clocks carried by different observers would not necessarily agree.”

Do you ever feel, in your workplace, like different members of your team are operating from a different perception of time? You say it will take two weeks to get a project done; your colleague says three weeks. You’re both experienced content creators, relying on the same historical experiences in the same workplace. How can you determine who’s right? Or should you just split the difference and get going on the work, figuring a few days doesn’t really matter?

In recent years, content marketing has become increasingly data-driven, at least when it comes to analytics and results. The efficacy of our work is something we can and do measure and manage. But there’s a tendency to avoid content creation data—how much time and resources the work really takes—which can make it difficult to:

Meet deadlines

Accurately forecast future work

Tap into our team’s full potential

Justify new resources

Prove the ROI of our time

Push back against unrealistic requests

Clearly, there are significant downsides to ignoring this front-end data, but it’s something content marketers are almost universally guilty of.

“As content creators, we are very results-focused,” said Todd Patton, content marketing manager at Branch Metrics in Palo Alto. “I’d much rather go to my boss and report that we acquired 100 MQLs from a certain ebook than how long it took me to put that ebook together.”

I think this is partly because not every executive appreciates how much effort it takes to write, design, concept, and create high-quality, original material. We’ve all seen the suspicious looks and heard the disbelieving questions throughout our careers. “It takes how long to produce a blog post? Hmm . . . I can write a 1,000-word email in 10 minutes.”

But pretending to others (and to ourselves) that we churn out the work more quickly than we really can, while still meeting the necessary quality standards, will only hurt us in the long run. It’s time to stop hiding from the truth of our content processes. Here are five ways for any content marketer to be more transparent and successful with project planning for both recurring work and one-off initiatives.

1. Involve the Team Throughout the Content Process

In a recent speech about project planning and forecasting, PMO Manager Eric Lucas of Crowley Maritime Corporation said:

“There’s something I call Mighty Mouse syndrome: There are people who love hiding things and then giving a ‘big reveal’; they love the grandeur of saving the day at the last possible moment. But that’s not how humans are successful. You have to work as teams.”

He offered seven tips for how project managers can improve the accuracy of their forecasts:

Humans learn in iterations—getting better at forecasting is a repetitive process.

Involve all the right people.

Adjust the forecast often.

Ensure the forecast reflects reality, not desire.

Communicate the forecast often—and through multiple channels.

Conduct a “lessons learned” meeting at the end of projects to codify what everyone has learned.

Accept that forecasts are approximations of the future; forecasts have to be “good enough.”

2. Guesstimate Granularly

“When I worked in-house and had limited resources, it always surprised me how long a project would take,” says Megan Maybee, a content marketing strategist at ThomasARTS in Salt Lake City. “Something simple like creating a social contest had so many elements, from design and writing to compliance and legal review. There were a couple times I didn’t give myself enough time, and then it was a huge scramble.”

I, too, am often surprised at how long certain projects take, even those I complete over and over again. It’s because it’s human nature to gloss over the difficulty of the journey mentally and only remember the destination. This tendency to forget accounts for people going through childbirth more than one time (or so I’m told), running more than one marathon, agreeing to more than one dental procedure.

No content marketing project can be predicted or controlled with 100 percent accuracy from the outset, no matter how much experience we have cranking out similar projects. There are always variables, and we must always rely on guesstimation to one degree or another. The key is to get as granular as possible with your project and resource guesstimations—to leave nothing out.

Start by meticulously documenting your workflow, including each little step it takes to execute each content type. Account for every brainstorm meeting, every interview, every individual contribution, every outline, every draft, every proofreading session, and every round of review and approval. Get input from every person who has a role in the production process. Ask questions to understand every aspect.

What I’ve just described is called Bottom-Up Estimating in project management circles. You can also try Analogous Estimating or Parametric Modeling, as described here. But whatever approach you take, be aware of the temptation to underestimate your time in order to appear faster or more competent. It’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver than to do the opposite.

3. Expect Everyone to Track Their Time

Once you have your repeatable processes granularly documented, start tracking the hours and minutes spent on each project phase (brainstorming, researching, writing, illustration, design, etc.) to make your future guesstimations even more reliable. When you add up all the time you tracked and build in some buffer time, that’s how you’ll know whether the next project is likely to take two weeks or three—whether you or your colleague was right all along.

If you use a work-management software solution like Workfront, the “adding up” is done for you. Individuals can just navigate to the task and use built-in time-tracking tools—or add in their hours manually. Just don’t fall prey to the temptation to assume you’ll always be able to beat your fastest time on each step. Rely on a padded average instead. Not everyone will be thrilled about tracking their time on projects (see tip 5), but it’s an excellent way to reveal which steps are taking more time than you assumed or expected, where time is being wasted, and how you can work more efficiently.

“When I proactively track my time, it helps me focus more immediately and intensely,” says freelance content marketer Angie Lucas (no relation to Eric). “Any time I’m under the gun, the first thing I do when I sit down at my desk is to open my Paymo time-tracking widget and hit Start. I know every minute I spend from that time forward will be billed to a client, which keeps me laser focused on the task at hand.”

4. Rely on a Single Source of Truth

Even if you use nothing but a spreadsheet, it’s relatively easy to keep track of the quantitative data from your project—things like hours, dates, and hard costs. But your qualitative data—emails, shared documents, instant messaging activity, etc.—can be just as important, revealing how smoothly (or bumpily) the project progressed, what roadblocks you encountered, and more.

But who has time to track all of that? Am I seriously expecting you to file away every email into project-specific folders and copy-and-paste relevant IMs into a post-mortem document? Heck no.

There are work management solutions available that enable all of this communication to happen in the space surrounding the quantitative data. These allow you to visit one online location to not only see how long the last project took and how the schedule played out, but also view the finished assets and deliverables—and you’ll be reminded that design asked for two deadline extensions on the layout phase because they weren’t given enough time in the first place.

A single tool, or at least fewer tools, from which to draw data will give you more power to speak with confidence about what you’re working on, how long it will take, and whether you have the bandwidth for that next upcoming project.

5. Understand Polychronic versus Monochronic Time

Remember when I asked if it ever seems you and your team members are operating from different perceptions of time? The truth is, you probably are. Understanding this can open up windows of insight into how you (and others) approach your work.

We live in a monochronic culture, which sees time as “being divided into fixed elements that can be organized, quantified and scheduled.” Time is linear. Time can and should be organized into a daily routine. “Obviously,” you’re thinking. “Doesn’t everyone think that?”

Actually, no. Not only are there entire polychronic cultures (parts of Latin America, sub-Sahara Africa, and the Middle East), there are polychrons even within monochronic cultures who view time as “a never-ending river, flowing from the infinite past, through the present, into the infinite future.” That’s not just highfalutin nonsense. Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. They prefer task-switching and thrive in environments without a fixed schedule. (Incidentally, these preferences are also exhibited in a growing number of digital natives.) They’re often late because, to them, time is truly relative.

If you and your team members can understand your own natural perception of time, you can harness each individual’s strengths for a stronger, more balanced team. For example, you might not want to put one of your polychrons in charge of project scheduling and forecasting (and they’ll probably thank you for it). But you can and should expect them to track their time and meet deadlines just like their monochronic counterparts, recognizing that some employees will produce their most brilliant work with a little less structure.

Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. Click To Tweet

It Takes Time to Make Time

If there’s one thing content marketers are constantly running short on, it’s time. At any given moment, each person on your team might have dozens of projects in the pipeline—all in different stages of planning, ideation, and creation. With so many moving parts, it’s not easy to pause long enough to collect and analyze the up-front data about your content production process. But unless you do—and remember, much of these metrics are available via automated tools—you’ll always be left guessing how long things take, how much bandwidth your team has, and whether you have the resources you need to meet your goals, now and in the future.

This post is part of a paid sponsorship between Workfront and Convince & Convert.

http://www.successwize.com/5-ways-to-harness-time-and-data-in-your-content-process/

[byronheeutgm]

5 Ways to Harness Time and Data in Your Content Process

“The theory of relativity put an end to the idea of absolute time,” wrote Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time. “It appeared that each observer might have his own measure of time, as recorded by a clock carried with him, and that identical clocks carried by different observers would not necessarily agree.”

Do you ever feel, in your workplace, like different members of your team are operating from a different perception of time? You say it will take two weeks to get a project done; your colleague says three weeks. You’re both experienced content creators, relying on the same historical experiences in the same workplace. How can you determine who’s right? Or should you just split the difference and get going on the work, figuring a few days doesn’t really matter?

In recent years, content marketing has become increasingly data-driven, at least when it comes to analytics and results. The efficacy of our work is something we can and do measure and manage. But there’s a tendency to avoid content creation data—how much time and resources the work really takes—which can make it difficult to:

Meet deadlines

Accurately forecast future work

Tap into our team’s full potential

Justify new resources

Prove the ROI of our time

Push back against unrealistic requests

Clearly, there are significant downsides to ignoring this front-end data, but it’s something content marketers are almost universally guilty of.

“As content creators, we are very results-focused,” said Todd Patton, content marketing manager at Branch Metrics in Palo Alto. “I’d much rather go to my boss and report that we acquired 100 MQLs from a certain ebook than how long it took me to put that ebook together.”

I think this is partly because not every executive appreciates how much effort it takes to write, design, concept, and create high-quality, original material. We’ve all seen the suspicious looks and heard the disbelieving questions throughout our careers. “It takes how long to produce a blog post? Hmm . . . I can write a 1,000-word email in 10 minutes.”

But pretending to others (and to ourselves) that we churn out the work more quickly than we really can, while still meeting the necessary quality standards, will only hurt us in the long run. It’s time to stop hiding from the truth of our content processes. Here are five ways for any content marketer to be more transparent and successful with project planning for both recurring work and one-off initiatives.

1. Involve the Team Throughout the Content Process

In a recent speech about project planning and forecasting, PMO Manager Eric Lucas of Crowley Maritime Corporation said:

“There’s something I call Mighty Mouse syndrome: There are people who love hiding things and then giving a ‘big reveal’; they love the grandeur of saving the day at the last possible moment. But that’s not how humans are successful. You have to work as teams.”

He offered seven tips for how project managers can improve the accuracy of their forecasts:

Humans learn in iterations—getting better at forecasting is a repetitive process.

Involve all the right people.

Adjust the forecast often.

Ensure the forecast reflects reality, not desire.

Communicate the forecast often—and through multiple channels.

Conduct a “lessons learned” meeting at the end of projects to codify what everyone has learned.

Accept that forecasts are approximations of the future; forecasts have to be “good enough.”

2. Guesstimate Granularly

“When I worked in-house and had limited resources, it always surprised me how long a project would take,” says Megan Maybee, a content marketing strategist at ThomasARTS in Salt Lake City. “Something simple like creating a social contest had so many elements, from design and writing to compliance and legal review. There were a couple times I didn’t give myself enough time, and then it was a huge scramble.”

I, too, am often surprised at how long certain projects take, even those I complete over and over again. It’s because it’s human nature to gloss over the difficulty of the journey mentally and only remember the destination. This tendency to forget accounts for people going through childbirth more than one time (or so I’m told), running more than one marathon, agreeing to more than one dental procedure.

No content marketing project can be predicted or controlled with 100 percent accuracy from the outset, no matter how much experience we have cranking out similar projects. There are always variables, and we must always rely on guesstimation to one degree or another. The key is to get as granular as possible with your project and resource guesstimations—to leave nothing out.

Start by meticulously documenting your workflow, including each little step it takes to execute each content type. Account for every brainstorm meeting, every interview, every individual contribution, every outline, every draft, every proofreading session, and every round of review and approval. Get input from every person who has a role in the production process. Ask questions to understand every aspect.

What I’ve just described is called Bottom-Up Estimating in project management circles. You can also try Analogous Estimating or Parametric Modeling, as described here. But whatever approach you take, be aware of the temptation to underestimate your time in order to appear faster or more competent. It’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver than to do the opposite.

3. Expect Everyone to Track Their Time

Once you have your repeatable processes granularly documented, start tracking the hours and minutes spent on each project phase (brainstorming, researching, writing, illustration, design, etc.) to make your future guesstimations even more reliable. When you add up all the time you tracked and build in some buffer time, that’s how you’ll know whether the next project is likely to take two weeks or three—whether you or your colleague was right all along.

If you use a work-management software solution like Workfront, the “adding up” is done for you. Individuals can just navigate to the task and use built-in time-tracking tools—or add in their hours manually. Just don’t fall prey to the temptation to assume you’ll always be able to beat your fastest time on each step. Rely on a padded average instead. Not everyone will be thrilled about tracking their time on projects (see tip 5), but it’s an excellent way to reveal which steps are taking more time than you assumed or expected, where time is being wasted, and how you can work more efficiently.

“When I proactively track my time, it helps me focus more immediately and intensely,” says freelance content marketer Angie Lucas (no relation to Eric). “Any time I’m under the gun, the first thing I do when I sit down at my desk is to open my Paymo time-tracking widget and hit Start. I know every minute I spend from that time forward will be billed to a client, which keeps me laser focused on the task at hand.”

4. Rely on a Single Source of Truth

Even if you use nothing but a spreadsheet, it’s relatively easy to keep track of the quantitative data from your project—things like hours, dates, and hard costs. But your qualitative data—emails, shared documents, instant messaging activity, etc.—can be just as important, revealing how smoothly (or bumpily) the project progressed, what roadblocks you encountered, and more.

But who has time to track all of that? Am I seriously expecting you to file away every email into project-specific folders and copy-and-paste relevant IMs into a post-mortem document? Heck no.

There are work management solutions available that enable all of this communication to happen in the space surrounding the quantitative data. These allow you to visit one online location to not only see how long the last project took and how the schedule played out, but also view the finished assets and deliverables—and you’ll be reminded that design asked for two deadline extensions on the layout phase because they weren’t given enough time in the first place.

A single tool, or at least fewer tools, from which to draw data will give you more power to speak with confidence about what you’re working on, how long it will take, and whether you have the bandwidth for that next upcoming project.

5. Understand Polychronic versus Monochronic Time

Remember when I asked if it ever seems you and your team members are operating from different perceptions of time? The truth is, you probably are. Understanding this can open up windows of insight into how you (and others) approach your work.

We live in a monochronic culture, which sees time as “being divided into fixed elements that can be organized, quantified and scheduled.” Time is linear. Time can and should be organized into a daily routine. “Obviously,” you’re thinking. “Doesn’t everyone think that?”

Actually, no. Not only are there entire polychronic cultures (parts of Latin America, sub-Sahara Africa, and the Middle East), there are polychrons even within monochronic cultures who view time as “a never-ending river, flowing from the infinite past, through the present, into the infinite future.” That’s not just highfalutin nonsense. Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. They prefer task-switching and thrive in environments without a fixed schedule. (Incidentally, these preferences are also exhibited in a growing number of digital natives.) They’re often late because, to them, time is truly relative.

If you and your team members can understand your own natural perception of time, you can harness each individual’s strengths for a stronger, more balanced team. For example, you might not want to put one of your polychrons in charge of project scheduling and forecasting (and they’ll probably thank you for it). But you can and should expect them to track their time and meet deadlines just like their monochronic counterparts, recognizing that some employees will produce their most brilliant work with a little less structure.

Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. Click To Tweet It Takes Time to Make Time

If there’s one thing content marketers are constantly running short on, it’s time. At any given moment, each person on your team might have dozens of projects in the pipeline—all in different stages of planning, ideation, and creation. With so many moving parts, it’s not easy to pause long enough to collect and analyze the up-front data about your content production process. But unless you do—and remember, much of these metrics are available via automated tools—you’ll always be left guessing how long things take, how much bandwidth your team has, and whether you have the resources you need to meet your goals, now and in the future.

This post is part of a paid sponsorship between Workfront and Convince & Convert.

http://ift.tt/2AhhIFG

[maryhare96]

5 Ways to Harness Time and Data in Your Content Process

“The theory of relativity put an end to the idea of absolute time,” wrote Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time. “It appeared that each observer might have his own measure of time, as recorded by a clock carried with him, and that identical clocks carried by different observers would not necessarily agree.”

Do you ever feel, in your workplace, like different members of your team are operating from a different perception of time? You say it will take two weeks to get a project done; your colleague says three weeks. You’re both experienced content creators, relying on the same historical experiences in the same workplace. How can you determine who’s right? Or should you just split the difference and get going on the work, figuring a few days doesn’t really matter?

In recent years, content marketing has become increasingly data-driven, at least when it comes to analytics and results. The efficacy of our work is something we can and do measure and manage. But there’s a tendency to avoid content creation data—how much time and resources the work really takes—which can make it difficult to:

Meet deadlines

Accurately forecast future work

Tap into our team’s full potential

Justify new resources

Prove the ROI of our time

Push back against unrealistic requests

Clearly, there are significant downsides to ignoring this front-end data, but it’s something content marketers are almost universally guilty of.

“As content creators, we are very results-focused,” said Todd Patton, content marketing manager at Branch Metrics in Palo Alto. “I’d much rather go to my boss and report that we acquired 100 MQLs from a certain ebook than how long it took me to put that ebook together.”

I think this is partly because not every executive appreciates how much effort it takes to write, design, concept, and create high-quality, original material. We’ve all seen the suspicious looks and heard the disbelieving questions throughout our careers. “It takes how long to produce a blog post? Hmm . . . I can write a 1,000-word email in 10 minutes.”

But pretending to others (and to ourselves) that we churn out the work more quickly than we really can, while still meeting the necessary quality standards, will only hurt us in the long run. It’s time to stop hiding from the truth of our content processes. Here are five ways for any content marketer to be more transparent and successful with project planning for both recurring work and one-off initiatives.

1. Involve the Team Throughout the Content Process

In a recent speech about project planning and forecasting, PMO Manager Eric Lucas of Crowley Maritime Corporation said:

“There’s something I call Mighty Mouse syndrome: There are people who love hiding things and then giving a ‘big reveal’; they love the grandeur of saving the day at the last possible moment. But that’s not how humans are successful. You have to work as teams.”

He offered seven tips for how project managers can improve the accuracy of their forecasts:

Humans learn in iterations—getting better at forecasting is a repetitive process.

Involve all the right people.

Adjust the forecast often.

Ensure the forecast reflects reality, not desire.

Communicate the forecast often—and through multiple channels.

Conduct a “lessons learned” meeting at the end of projects to codify what everyone has learned.

Accept that forecasts are approximations of the future; forecasts have to be “good enough.”

2. Guesstimate Granularly

“When I worked in-house and had limited resources, it always surprised me how long a project would take,” says Megan Maybee, a content marketing strategist at ThomasARTS in Salt Lake City. “Something simple like creating a social contest had so many elements, from design and writing to compliance and legal review. There were a couple times I didn’t give myself enough time, and then it was a huge scramble.”

I, too, am often surprised at how long certain projects take, even those I complete over and over again. It’s because it’s human nature to gloss over the difficulty of the journey mentally and only remember the destination. This tendency to forget accounts for people going through childbirth more than one time (or so I’m told), running more than one marathon, agreeing to more than one dental procedure.

No content marketing project can be predicted or controlled with 100 percent accuracy from the outset, no matter how much experience we have cranking out similar projects. There are always variables, and we must always rely on guesstimation to one degree or another. The key is to get as granular as possible with your project and resource guesstimations—to leave nothing out.

Start by meticulously documenting your workflow, including each little step it takes to execute each content type. Account for every brainstorm meeting, every interview, every individual contribution, every outline, every draft, every proofreading session, and every round of review and approval. Get input from every person who has a role in the production process. Ask questions to understand every aspect.

What I’ve just described is called Bottom-Up Estimating in project management circles. You can also try Analogous Estimating or Parametric Modeling, as described here. But whatever approach you take, be aware of the temptation to underestimate your time in order to appear faster or more competent. It’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver than to do the opposite.

3. Expect Everyone to Track Their Time

Once you have your repeatable processes granularly documented, start tracking the hours and minutes spent on each project phase (brainstorming, researching, writing, illustration, design, etc.) to make your future guesstimations even more reliable. When you add up all the time you tracked and build in some buffer time, that’s how you’ll know whether the next project is likely to take two weeks or three—whether you or your colleague was right all along.

If you use a work-management software solution like Workfront, the “adding up” is done for you. Individuals can just navigate to the task and use built-in time-tracking tools—or add in their hours manually. Just don’t fall prey to the temptation to assume you’ll always be able to beat your fastest time on each step. Rely on a padded average instead. Not everyone will be thrilled about tracking their time on projects (see tip 5), but it’s an excellent way to reveal which steps are taking more time than you assumed or expected, where time is being wasted, and how you can work more efficiently.

“When I proactively track my time, it helps me focus more immediately and intensely,” says freelance content marketer Angie Lucas (no relation to Eric). “Any time I’m under the gun, the first thing I do when I sit down at my desk is to open my Paymo time-tracking widget and hit Start. I know every minute I spend from that time forward will be billed to a client, which keeps me laser focused on the task at hand.”

4. Rely on a Single Source of Truth

Even if you use nothing but a spreadsheet, it’s relatively easy to keep track of the quantitative data from your project—things like hours, dates, and hard costs. But your qualitative data—emails, shared documents, instant messaging activity, etc.—can be just as important, revealing how smoothly (or bumpily) the project progressed, what roadblocks you encountered, and more.

But who has time to track all of that? Am I seriously expecting you to file away every email into project-specific folders and copy-and-paste relevant IMs into a post-mortem document? Heck no.

There are work management solutions available that enable all of this communication to happen in the space surrounding the quantitative data. These allow you to visit one online location to not only see how long the last project took and how the schedule played out, but also view the finished assets and deliverables—and you’ll be reminded that design asked for two deadline extensions on the layout phase because they weren’t given enough time in the first place.

A single tool, or at least fewer tools, from which to draw data will give you more power to speak with confidence about what you’re working on, how long it will take, and whether you have the bandwidth for that next upcoming project.

5. Understand Polychronic versus Monochronic Time

Remember when I asked if it ever seems you and your team members are operating from different perceptions of time? The truth is, you probably are. Understanding this can open up windows of insight into how you (and others) approach your work.

We live in a monochronic culture, which sees time as “being divided into fixed elements that can be organized, quantified and scheduled.” Time is linear. Time can and should be organized into a daily routine. “Obviously,” you’re thinking. “Doesn’t everyone think that?”

Actually, no. Not only are there entire polychronic cultures (parts of Latin America, sub-Sahara Africa, and the Middle East), there are polychrons even within monochronic cultures who view time as “a never-ending river, flowing from the infinite past, through the present, into the infinite future.” That’s not just highfalutin nonsense. Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. They prefer task-switching and thrive in environments without a fixed schedule. (Incidentally, these preferences are also exhibited in a growing number of digital natives.) They’re often late because, to them, time is truly relative.

If you and your team members can understand your own natural perception of time, you can harness each individual’s strengths for a stronger, more balanced team. For example, you might not want to put one of your polychrons in charge of project scheduling and forecasting (and they’ll probably thank you for it). But you can and should expect them to track their time and meet deadlines just like their monochronic counterparts, recognizing that some employees will produce their most brilliant work with a little less structure.

Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. Click To Tweet It Takes Time to Make Time

If there’s one thing content marketers are constantly running short on, it’s time. At any given moment, each person on your team might have dozens of projects in the pipeline—all in different stages of planning, ideation, and creation. With so many moving parts, it’s not easy to pause long enough to collect and analyze the up-front data about your content production process. But unless you do—and remember, much of these metrics are available via automated tools—you’ll always be left guessing how long things take, how much bandwidth your team has, and whether you have the resources you need to meet your goals, now and in the future.

This post is part of a paid sponsorship between Workfront and Convince & Convert.

http://ift.tt/2AhhIFG

[kraussoutene]

5 Ways to Harness Time and Data in Your Content Process

“The theory of relativity put an end to the idea of absolute time,” wrote Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time. “It appeared that each observer might have his own measure of time, as recorded by a clock carried with him, and that identical clocks carried by different observers would not necessarily agree.”

Do you ever feel, in your workplace, like different members of your team are operating from a different perception of time? You say it will take two weeks to get a project done; your colleague says three weeks. You’re both experienced content creators, relying on the same historical experiences in the same workplace. How can you determine who’s right? Or should you just split the difference and get going on the work, figuring a few days doesn’t really matter?

In recent years, content marketing has become increasingly data-driven, at least when it comes to analytics and results. The efficacy of our work is something we can and do measure and manage. But there’s a tendency to avoid content creation data—how much time and resources the work really takes—which can make it difficult to:

Meet deadlines

Accurately forecast future work

Tap into our team’s full potential

Justify new resources

Prove the ROI of our time

Push back against unrealistic requests

Clearly, there are significant downsides to ignoring this front-end data, but it’s something content marketers are almost universally guilty of.

“As content creators, we are very results-focused,” said Todd Patton, content marketing manager at Branch Metrics in Palo Alto. “I’d much rather go to my boss and report that we acquired 100 MQLs from a certain ebook than how long it took me to put that ebook together.”

I think this is partly because not every executive appreciates how much effort it takes to write, design, concept, and create high-quality, original material. We’ve all seen the suspicious looks and heard the disbelieving questions throughout our careers. “It takes how long to produce a blog post? Hmm . . . I can write a 1,000-word email in 10 minutes.”

But pretending to others (and to ourselves) that we churn out the work more quickly than we really can, while still meeting the necessary quality standards, will only hurt us in the long run. It’s time to stop hiding from the truth of our content processes. Here are five ways for any content marketer to be more transparent and successful with project planning for both recurring work and one-off initiatives.

1. Involve the Team Throughout the Content Process

In a recent speech about project planning and forecasting, PMO Manager Eric Lucas of Crowley Maritime Corporation said:

“There’s something I call Mighty Mouse syndrome: There are people who love hiding things and then giving a ‘big reveal’; they love the grandeur of saving the day at the last possible moment. But that’s not how humans are successful. You have to work as teams.”

He offered seven tips for how project managers can improve the accuracy of their forecasts:

Humans learn in iterations—getting better at forecasting is a repetitive process.

Involve all the right people.

Adjust the forecast often.

Ensure the forecast reflects reality, not desire.

Communicate the forecast often—and through multiple channels.

Conduct a “lessons learned” meeting at the end of projects to codify what everyone has learned.

Accept that forecasts are approximations of the future; forecasts have to be “good enough.”

2. Guesstimate Granularly

“When I worked in-house and had limited resources, it always surprised me how long a project would take,” says Megan Maybee, a content marketing strategist at ThomasARTS in Salt Lake City. “Something simple like creating a social contest had so many elements, from design and writing to compliance and legal review. There were a couple times I didn’t give myself enough time, and then it was a huge scramble.”

I, too, am often surprised at how long certain projects take, even those I complete over and over again. It’s because it’s human nature to gloss over the difficulty of the journey mentally and only remember the destination. This tendency to forget accounts for people going through childbirth more than one time (or so I’m told), running more than one marathon, agreeing to more than one dental procedure.

No content marketing project can be predicted or controlled with 100 percent accuracy from the outset, no matter how much experience we have cranking out similar projects. There are always variables, and we must always rely on guesstimation to one degree or another. The key is to get as granular as possible with your project and resource guesstimations—to leave nothing out.

Start by meticulously documenting your workflow, including each little step it takes to execute each content type. Account for every brainstorm meeting, every interview, every individual contribution, every outline, every draft, every proofreading session, and every round of review and approval. Get input from every person who has a role in the production process. Ask questions to understand every aspect.

What I’ve just described is called Bottom-Up Estimating in project management circles. You can also try Analogous Estimating or Parametric Modeling, as described here. But whatever approach you take, be aware of the temptation to underestimate your time in order to appear faster or more competent. It’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver than to do the opposite.

3. Expect Everyone to Track Their Time

Once you have your repeatable processes granularly documented, start tracking the hours and minutes spent on each project phase (brainstorming, researching, writing, illustration, design, etc.) to make your future guesstimations even more reliable. When you add up all the time you tracked and build in some buffer time, that’s how you’ll know whether the next project is likely to take two weeks or three—whether you or your colleague was right all along.

If you use a work-management software solution like Workfront, the “adding up” is done for you. Individuals can just navigate to the task and use built-in time-tracking tools—or add in their hours manually. Just don’t fall prey to the temptation to assume you’ll always be able to beat your fastest time on each step. Rely on a padded average instead. Not everyone will be thrilled about tracking their time on projects (see tip 5), but it’s an excellent way to reveal which steps are taking more time than you assumed or expected, where time is being wasted, and how you can work more efficiently.

“When I proactively track my time, it helps me focus more immediately and intensely,” says freelance content marketer Angie Lucas (no relation to Eric). “Any time I’m under the gun, the first thing I do when I sit down at my desk is to open my Paymo time-tracking widget and hit Start. I know every minute I spend from that time forward will be billed to a client, which keeps me laser focused on the task at hand.”

4. Rely on a Single Source of Truth

Even if you use nothing but a spreadsheet, it’s relatively easy to keep track of the quantitative data from your project—things like hours, dates, and hard costs. But your qualitative data—emails, shared documents, instant messaging activity, etc.—can be just as important, revealing how smoothly (or bumpily) the project progressed, what roadblocks you encountered, and more.

But who has time to track all of that? Am I seriously expecting you to file away every email into project-specific folders and copy-and-paste relevant IMs into a post-mortem document? Heck no.

There are work management solutions available that enable all of this communication to happen in the space surrounding the quantitative data. These allow you to visit one online location to not only see how long the last project took and how the schedule played out, but also view the finished assets and deliverables—and you’ll be reminded that design asked for two deadline extensions on the layout phase because they weren’t given enough time in the first place.

A single tool, or at least fewer tools, from which to draw data will give you more power to speak with confidence about what you’re working on, how long it will take, and whether you have the bandwidth for that next upcoming project.

5. Understand Polychronic versus Monochronic Time

Remember when I asked if it ever seems you and your team members are operating from different perceptions of time? The truth is, you probably are. Understanding this can open up windows of insight into how you (and others) approach your work.

We live in a monochronic culture, which sees time as “being divided into fixed elements that can be organized, quantified and scheduled.” Time is linear. Time can and should be organized into a daily routine. “Obviously,” you’re thinking. “Doesn’t everyone think that?”

Actually, no. Not only are there entire polychronic cultures (parts of Latin America, sub-Sahara Africa, and the Middle East), there are polychrons even within monochronic cultures who view time as “a never-ending river, flowing from the infinite past, through the present, into the infinite future.” That’s not just highfalutin nonsense. Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. They prefer task-switching and thrive in environments without a fixed schedule. (Incidentally, these preferences are also exhibited in a growing number of digital natives.) They’re often late because, to them, time is truly relative.

If you and your team members can understand your own natural perception of time, you can harness each individual’s strengths for a stronger, more balanced team. For example, you might not want to put one of your polychrons in charge of project scheduling and forecasting (and they’ll probably thank you for it). But you can and should expect them to track their time and meet deadlines just like their monochronic counterparts, recognizing that some employees will produce their most brilliant work with a little less structure.

Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. Click To Tweet It Takes Time to Make Time

If there’s one thing content marketers are constantly running short on, it’s time. At any given moment, each person on your team might have dozens of projects in the pipeline—all in different stages of planning, ideation, and creation. With so many moving parts, it’s not easy to pause long enough to collect and analyze the up-front data about your content production process. But unless you do—and remember, much of these metrics are available via automated tools—you’ll always be left guessing how long things take, how much bandwidth your team has, and whether you have the resources you need to meet your goals, now and in the future.

This post is part of a paid sponsorship between Workfront and Convince & Convert.

http://ift.tt/2AhhIFG

[dainiaolivahm]

5 Ways to Harness Time and Data in Your Content Process

“The theory of relativity put an end to the idea of absolute time,” wrote Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time. “It appeared that each observer might have his own measure of time, as recorded by a clock carried with him, and that identical clocks carried by different observers would not necessarily agree.”

Do you ever feel, in your workplace, like different members of your team are operating from a different perception of time? You say it will take two weeks to get a project done; your colleague says three weeks. You’re both experienced content creators, relying on the same historical experiences in the same workplace. How can you determine who’s right? Or should you just split the difference and get going on the work, figuring a few days doesn’t really matter?

In recent years, content marketing has become increasingly data-driven, at least when it comes to analytics and results. The efficacy of our work is something we can and do measure and manage. But there’s a tendency to avoid content creation data—how much time and resources the work really takes—which can make it difficult to:

Meet deadlines

Accurately forecast future work

Tap into our team’s full potential

Justify new resources

Prove the ROI of our time

Push back against unrealistic requests

Clearly, there are significant downsides to ignoring this front-end data, but it’s something content marketers are almost universally guilty of.

“As content creators, we are very results-focused,” said Todd Patton, content marketing manager at Branch Metrics in Palo Alto. “I’d much rather go to my boss and report that we acquired 100 MQLs from a certain ebook than how long it took me to put that ebook together.”

I think this is partly because not every executive appreciates how much effort it takes to write, design, concept, and create high-quality, original material. We’ve all seen the suspicious looks and heard the disbelieving questions throughout our careers. “It takes how long to produce a blog post? Hmm . . . I can write a 1,000-word email in 10 minutes.”

But pretending to others (and to ourselves) that we churn out the work more quickly than we really can, while still meeting the necessary quality standards, will only hurt us in the long run. It’s time to stop hiding from the truth of our content processes. Here are five ways for any content marketer to be more transparent and successful with project planning for both recurring work and one-off initiatives.

1. Involve the Team Throughout the Content Process

In a recent speech about project planning and forecasting, PMO Manager Eric Lucas of Crowley Maritime Corporation said:

“There’s something I call Mighty Mouse syndrome: There are people who love hiding things and then giving a ‘big reveal’; they love the grandeur of saving the day at the last possible moment. But that’s not how humans are successful. You have to work as teams.”

He offered seven tips for how project managers can improve the accuracy of their forecasts:

Humans learn in iterations—getting better at forecasting is a repetitive process.

Involve all the right people.

Adjust the forecast often.

Ensure the forecast reflects reality, not desire.

Communicate the forecast often—and through multiple channels.

Conduct a “lessons learned” meeting at the end of projects to codify what everyone has learned.

Accept that forecasts are approximations of the future; forecasts have to be “good enough.”

2. Guesstimate Granularly

“When I worked in-house and had limited resources, it always surprised me how long a project would take,” says Megan Maybee, a content marketing strategist at ThomasARTS in Salt Lake City. “Something simple like creating a social contest had so many elements, from design and writing to compliance and legal review. There were a couple times I didn’t give myself enough time, and then it was a huge scramble.”

I, too, am often surprised at how long certain projects take, even those I complete over and over again. It’s because it’s human nature to gloss over the difficulty of the journey mentally and only remember the destination. This tendency to forget accounts for people going through childbirth more than one time (or so I’m told), running more than one marathon, agreeing to more than one dental procedure.

No content marketing project can be predicted or controlled with 100 percent accuracy from the outset, no matter how much experience we have cranking out similar projects. There are always variables, and we must always rely on guesstimation to one degree or another. The key is to get as granular as possible with your project and resource guesstimations—to leave nothing out.

Start by meticulously documenting your workflow, including each little step it takes to execute each content type. Account for every brainstorm meeting, every interview, every individual contribution, every outline, every draft, every proofreading session, and every round of review and approval. Get input from every person who has a role in the production process. Ask questions to understand every aspect.

What I’ve just described is called Bottom-Up Estimating in project management circles. You can also try Analogous Estimating or Parametric Modeling, as described here. But whatever approach you take, be aware of the temptation to underestimate your time in order to appear faster or more competent. It’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver than to do the opposite.

3. Expect Everyone to Track Their Time

Once you have your repeatable processes granularly documented, start tracking the hours and minutes spent on each project phase (brainstorming, researching, writing, illustration, design, etc.) to make your future guesstimations even more reliable. When you add up all the time you tracked and build in some buffer time, that’s how you’ll know whether the next project is likely to take two weeks or three—whether you or your colleague was right all along.

If you use a work-management software solution like Workfront, the “adding up” is done for you. Individuals can just navigate to the task and use built-in time-tracking tools—or add in their hours manually. Just don’t fall prey to the temptation to assume you’ll always be able to beat your fastest time on each step. Rely on a padded average instead. Not everyone will be thrilled about tracking their time on projects (see tip 5), but it’s an excellent way to reveal which steps are taking more time than you assumed or expected, where time is being wasted, and how you can work more efficiently.

“When I proactively track my time, it helps me focus more immediately and intensely,” says freelance content marketer Angie Lucas (no relation to Eric). “Any time I’m under the gun, the first thing I do when I sit down at my desk is to open my Paymo time-tracking widget and hit Start. I know every minute I spend from that time forward will be billed to a client, which keeps me laser focused on the task at hand.”

4. Rely on a Single Source of Truth

Even if you use nothing but a spreadsheet, it’s relatively easy to keep track of the quantitative data from your project—things like hours, dates, and hard costs. But your qualitative data—emails, shared documents, instant messaging activity, etc.—can be just as important, revealing how smoothly (or bumpily) the project progressed, what roadblocks you encountered, and more.

But who has time to track all of that? Am I seriously expecting you to file away every email into project-specific folders and copy-and-paste relevant IMs into a post-mortem document? Heck no.

There are work management solutions available that enable all of this communication to happen in the space surrounding the quantitative data. These allow you to visit one online location to not only see how long the last project took and how the schedule played out, but also view the finished assets and deliverables—and you’ll be reminded that design asked for two deadline extensions on the layout phase because they weren’t given enough time in the first place.

A single tool, or at least fewer tools, from which to draw data will give you more power to speak with confidence about what you’re working on, how long it will take, and whether you have the bandwidth for that next upcoming project.

5. Understand Polychronic versus Monochronic Time

Remember when I asked if it ever seems you and your team members are operating from different perceptions of time? The truth is, you probably are. Understanding this can open up windows of insight into how you (and others) approach your work.

We live in a monochronic culture, which sees time as “being divided into fixed elements that can be organized, quantified and scheduled.” Time is linear. Time can and should be organized into a daily routine. “Obviously,” you’re thinking. “Doesn’t everyone think that?”

Actually, no. Not only are there entire polychronic cultures (parts of Latin America, sub-Sahara Africa, and the Middle East), there are polychrons even within monochronic cultures who view time as “a never-ending river, flowing from the infinite past, through the present, into the infinite future.” That’s not just highfalutin nonsense. Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. They prefer task-switching and thrive in environments without a fixed schedule. (Incidentally, these preferences are also exhibited in a growing number of digital natives.) They’re often late because, to them, time is truly relative.

If you and your team members can understand your own natural perception of time, you can harness each individual’s strengths for a stronger, more balanced team. For example, you might not want to put one of your polychrons in charge of project scheduling and forecasting (and they’ll probably thank you for it). But you can and should expect them to track their time and meet deadlines just like their monochronic counterparts, recognizing that some employees will produce their most brilliant work with a little less structure.

Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. Click To Tweet It Takes Time to Make Time

If there’s one thing content marketers are constantly running short on, it’s time. At any given moment, each person on your team might have dozens of projects in the pipeline—all in different stages of planning, ideation, and creation. With so many moving parts, it’s not easy to pause long enough to collect and analyze the up-front data about your content production process. But unless you do—and remember, much of these metrics are available via automated tools—you’ll always be left guessing how long things take, how much bandwidth your team has, and whether you have the resources you need to meet your goals, now and in the future.

This post is part of a paid sponsorship between Workfront and Convince & Convert.

http://ift.tt/2AhhIFG

[christinesumpmg1]

5 Ways to Harness Time and Data in Your Content Process

“The theory of relativity put an end to the idea of absolute time,” wrote Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time. “It appeared that each observer might have his own measure of time, as recorded by a clock carried with him, and that identical clocks carried by different observers would not necessarily agree.”

Do you ever feel, in your workplace, like different members of your team are operating from a different perception of time? You say it will take two weeks to get a project done; your colleague says three weeks. You’re both experienced content creators, relying on the same historical experiences in the same workplace. How can you determine who’s right? Or should you just split the difference and get going on the work, figuring a few days doesn’t really matter?

In recent years, content marketing has become increasingly data-driven, at least when it comes to analytics and results. The efficacy of our work is something we can and do measure and manage. But there’s a tendency to avoid content creation data—how much time and resources the work really takes—which can make it difficult to:

Meet deadlines

Accurately forecast future work

Tap into our team’s full potential

Justify new resources

Prove the ROI of our time

Push back against unrealistic requests

Clearly, there are significant downsides to ignoring this front-end data, but it’s something content marketers are almost universally guilty of.

“As content creators, we are very results-focused,” said Todd Patton, content marketing manager at Branch Metrics in Palo Alto. “I’d much rather go to my boss and report that we acquired 100 MQLs from a certain ebook than how long it took me to put that ebook together.”

I think this is partly because not every executive appreciates how much effort it takes to write, design, concept, and create high-quality, original material. We’ve all seen the suspicious looks and heard the disbelieving questions throughout our careers. “It takes how long to produce a blog post? Hmm . . . I can write a 1,000-word email in 10 minutes.”

But pretending to others (and to ourselves) that we churn out the work more quickly than we really can, while still meeting the necessary quality standards, will only hurt us in the long run. It’s time to stop hiding from the truth of our content processes. Here are five ways for any content marketer to be more transparent and successful with project planning for both recurring work and one-off initiatives.

1. Involve the Team Throughout the Content Process

In a recent speech about project planning and forecasting, PMO Manager Eric Lucas of Crowley Maritime Corporation said:

“There’s something I call Mighty Mouse syndrome: There are people who love hiding things and then giving a ‘big reveal’; they love the grandeur of saving the day at the last possible moment. But that’s not how humans are successful. You have to work as teams.”

He offered seven tips for how project managers can improve the accuracy of their forecasts:

Humans learn in iterations—getting better at forecasting is a repetitive process.

Involve all the right people.

Adjust the forecast often.

Ensure the forecast reflects reality, not desire.

Communicate the forecast often—and through multiple channels.

Conduct a “lessons learned” meeting at the end of projects to codify what everyone has learned.

Accept that forecasts are approximations of the future; forecasts have to be “good enough.”

2. Guesstimate Granularly

“When I worked in-house and had limited resources, it always surprised me how long a project would take,” says Megan Maybee, a content marketing strategist at ThomasARTS in Salt Lake City. “Something simple like creating a social contest had so many elements, from design and writing to compliance and legal review. There were a couple times I didn’t give myself enough time, and then it was a huge scramble.”

I, too, am often surprised at how long certain projects take, even those I complete over and over again. It’s because it’s human nature to gloss over the difficulty of the journey mentally and only remember the destination. This tendency to forget accounts for people going through childbirth more than one time (or so I’m told), running more than one marathon, agreeing to more than one dental procedure.

No content marketing project can be predicted or controlled with 100 percent accuracy from the outset, no matter how much experience we have cranking out similar projects. There are always variables, and we must always rely on guesstimation to one degree or another. The key is to get as granular as possible with your project and resource guesstimations—to leave nothing out.

Start by meticulously documenting your workflow, including each little step it takes to execute each content type. Account for every brainstorm meeting, every interview, every individual contribution, every outline, every draft, every proofreading session, and every round of review and approval. Get input from every person who has a role in the production process. Ask questions to understand every aspect.

What I’ve just described is called Bottom-Up Estimating in project management circles. You can also try Analogous Estimating or Parametric Modeling, as described here. But whatever approach you take, be aware of the temptation to underestimate your time in order to appear faster or more competent. It’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver than to do the opposite.

3. Expect Everyone to Track Their Time

Once you have your repeatable processes granularly documented, start tracking the hours and minutes spent on each project phase (brainstorming, researching, writing, illustration, design, etc.) to make your future guesstimations even more reliable. When you add up all the time you tracked and build in some buffer time, that’s how you’ll know whether the next project is likely to take two weeks or three—whether you or your colleague was right all along.

If you use a work-management software solution like Workfront, the “adding up” is done for you. Individuals can just navigate to the task and use built-in time-tracking tools—or add in their hours manually. Just don’t fall prey to the temptation to assume you’ll always be able to beat your fastest time on each step. Rely on a padded average instead. Not everyone will be thrilled about tracking their time on projects (see tip 5), but it’s an excellent way to reveal which steps are taking more time than you assumed or expected, where time is being wasted, and how you can work more efficiently.

“When I proactively track my time, it helps me focus more immediately and intensely,” says freelance content marketer Angie Lucas (no relation to Eric). “Any time I’m under the gun, the first thing I do when I sit down at my desk is to open my Paymo time-tracking widget and hit Start. I know every minute I spend from that time forward will be billed to a client, which keeps me laser focused on the task at hand.”

4. Rely on a Single Source of Truth

Even if you use nothing but a spreadsheet, it’s relatively easy to keep track of the quantitative data from your project—things like hours, dates, and hard costs. But your qualitative data—emails, shared documents, instant messaging activity, etc.—can be just as important, revealing how smoothly (or bumpily) the project progressed, what roadblocks you encountered, and more.

But who has time to track all of that? Am I seriously expecting you to file away every email into project-specific folders and copy-and-paste relevant IMs into a post-mortem document? Heck no.

There are work management solutions available that enable all of this communication to happen in the space surrounding the quantitative data. These allow you to visit one online location to not only see how long the last project took and how the schedule played out, but also view the finished assets and deliverables—and you’ll be reminded that design asked for two deadline extensions on the layout phase because they weren’t given enough time in the first place.

A single tool, or at least fewer tools, from which to draw data will give you more power to speak with confidence about what you’re working on, how long it will take, and whether you have the bandwidth for that next upcoming project.

5. Understand Polychronic versus Monochronic Time

Remember when I asked if it ever seems you and your team members are operating from different perceptions of time? The truth is, you probably are. Understanding this can open up windows of insight into how you (and others) approach your work.

We live in a monochronic culture, which sees time as “being divided into fixed elements that can be organized, quantified and scheduled.” Time is linear. Time can and should be organized into a daily routine. “Obviously,” you’re thinking. “Doesn’t everyone think that?”

Actually, no. Not only are there entire polychronic cultures (parts of Latin America, sub-Sahara Africa, and the Middle East), there are polychrons even within monochronic cultures who view time as “a never-ending river, flowing from the infinite past, through the present, into the infinite future.” That’s not just highfalutin nonsense. Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. They prefer task-switching and thrive in environments without a fixed schedule. (Incidentally, these preferences are also exhibited in a growing number of digital natives.) They’re often late because, to them, time is truly relative.

If you and your team members can understand your own natural perception of time, you can harness each individual’s strengths for a stronger, more balanced team. For example, you might not want to put one of your polychrons in charge of project scheduling and forecasting (and they’ll probably thank you for it). But you can and should expect them to track their time and meet deadlines just like their monochronic counterparts, recognizing that some employees will produce their most brilliant work with a little less structure.

Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. Click To Tweet It Takes Time to Make Time

If there’s one thing content marketers are constantly running short on, it’s time. At any given moment, each person on your team might have dozens of projects in the pipeline—all in different stages of planning, ideation, and creation. With so many moving parts, it’s not easy to pause long enough to collect and analyze the up-front data about your content production process. But unless you do—and remember, much of these metrics are available via automated tools—you’ll always be left guessing how long things take, how much bandwidth your team has, and whether you have the resources you need to meet your goals, now and in the future.

This post is part of a paid sponsorship between Workfront and Convince & Convert.

http://ift.tt/2AhhIFG

[mariasolemarionqi]

5 Ways to Harness Time and Data in Your Content Process

“The theory of relativity put an end to the idea of absolute time,” wrote Stephen Hawking in A Brief History of Time. “It appeared that each observer might have his own measure of time, as recorded by a clock carried with him, and that identical clocks carried by different observers would not necessarily agree.”

Do you ever feel, in your workplace, like different members of your team are operating from a different perception of time? You say it will take two weeks to get a project done; your colleague says three weeks. You’re both experienced content creators, relying on the same historical experiences in the same workplace. How can you determine who’s right? Or should you just split the difference and get going on the work, figuring a few days doesn’t really matter?

In recent years, content marketing has become increasingly data-driven, at least when it comes to analytics and results. The efficacy of our work is something we can and do measure and manage. But there’s a tendency to avoid content creation data—how much time and resources the work really takes—which can make it difficult to:

Meet deadlines

Accurately forecast future work

Tap into our team’s full potential

Justify new resources

Prove the ROI of our time

Push back against unrealistic requests

Clearly, there are significant downsides to ignoring this front-end data, but it’s something content marketers are almost universally guilty of.

“As content creators, we are very results-focused,” said Todd Patton, content marketing manager at Branch Metrics in Palo Alto. “I’d much rather go to my boss and report that we acquired 100 MQLs from a certain ebook than how long it took me to put that ebook together.”

I think this is partly because not every executive appreciates how much effort it takes to write, design, concept, and create high-quality, original material. We’ve all seen the suspicious looks and heard the disbelieving questions throughout our careers. “It takes how long to produce a blog post? Hmm . . . I can write a 1,000-word email in 10 minutes.”

But pretending to others (and to ourselves) that we churn out the work more quickly than we really can, while still meeting the necessary quality standards, will only hurt us in the long run. It’s time to stop hiding from the truth of our content processes. Here are five ways for any content marketer to be more transparent and successful with project planning for both recurring work and one-off initiatives.

1. Involve the Team Throughout the Content Process

In a recent speech about project planning and forecasting, PMO Manager Eric Lucas of Crowley Maritime Corporation said:

“There’s something I call Mighty Mouse syndrome: There are people who love hiding things and then giving a ‘big reveal’; they love the grandeur of saving the day at the last possible moment. But that’s not how humans are successful. You have to work as teams.”

He offered seven tips for how project managers can improve the accuracy of their forecasts:

Humans learn in iterations—getting better at forecasting is a repetitive process.

Involve all the right people.

Adjust the forecast often.

Ensure the forecast reflects reality, not desire.

Communicate the forecast often—and through multiple channels.

Conduct a “lessons learned” meeting at the end of projects to codify what everyone has learned.

Accept that forecasts are approximations of the future; forecasts have to be “good enough.”

2. Guesstimate Granularly

“When I worked in-house and had limited resources, it always surprised me how long a project would take,” says Megan Maybee, a content marketing strategist at ThomasARTS in Salt Lake City. “Something simple like creating a social contest had so many elements, from design and writing to compliance and legal review. There were a couple times I didn’t give myself enough time, and then it was a huge scramble.”

I, too, am often surprised at how long certain projects take, even those I complete over and over again. It’s because it’s human nature to gloss over the difficulty of the journey mentally and only remember the destination. This tendency to forget accounts for people going through childbirth more than one time (or so I’m told), running more than one marathon, agreeing to more than one dental procedure.

No content marketing project can be predicted or controlled with 100 percent accuracy from the outset, no matter how much experience we have cranking out similar projects. There are always variables, and we must always rely on guesstimation to one degree or another. The key is to get as granular as possible with your project and resource guesstimations—to leave nothing out.

Start by meticulously documenting your workflow, including each little step it takes to execute each content type. Account for every brainstorm meeting, every interview, every individual contribution, every outline, every draft, every proofreading session, and every round of review and approval. Get input from every person who has a role in the production process. Ask questions to understand every aspect.

What I’ve just described is called Bottom-Up Estimating in project management circles. You can also try Analogous Estimating or Parametric Modeling, as described here. But whatever approach you take, be aware of the temptation to underestimate your time in order to appear faster or more competent. It’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver than to do the opposite.

3. Expect Everyone to Track Their Time

Once you have your repeatable processes granularly documented, start tracking the hours and minutes spent on each project phase (brainstorming, researching, writing, illustration, design, etc.) to make your future guesstimations even more reliable. When you add up all the time you tracked and build in some buffer time, that’s how you’ll know whether the next project is likely to take two weeks or three—whether you or your colleague was right all along.

If you use a work-management software solution like Workfront, the “adding up” is done for you. Individuals can just navigate to the task and use built-in time-tracking tools—or add in their hours manually. Just don’t fall prey to the temptation to assume you’ll always be able to beat your fastest time on each step. Rely on a padded average instead. Not everyone will be thrilled about tracking their time on projects (see tip 5), but it’s an excellent way to reveal which steps are taking more time than you assumed or expected, where time is being wasted, and how you can work more efficiently.

“When I proactively track my time, it helps me focus more immediately and intensely,” says freelance content marketer Angie Lucas (no relation to Eric). “Any time I’m under the gun, the first thing I do when I sit down at my desk is to open my Paymo time-tracking widget and hit Start. I know every minute I spend from that time forward will be billed to a client, which keeps me laser focused on the task at hand.”

4. Rely on a Single Source of Truth

Even if you use nothing but a spreadsheet, it’s relatively easy to keep track of the quantitative data from your project—things like hours, dates, and hard costs. But your qualitative data—emails, shared documents, instant messaging activity, etc.—can be just as important, revealing how smoothly (or bumpily) the project progressed, what roadblocks you encountered, and more.

But who has time to track all of that? Am I seriously expecting you to file away every email into project-specific folders and copy-and-paste relevant IMs into a post-mortem document? Heck no.

There are work management solutions available that enable all of this communication to happen in the space surrounding the quantitative data. These allow you to visit one online location to not only see how long the last project took and how the schedule played out, but also view the finished assets and deliverables—and you’ll be reminded that design asked for two deadline extensions on the layout phase because they weren’t given enough time in the first place.

A single tool, or at least fewer tools, from which to draw data will give you more power to speak with confidence about what you’re working on, how long it will take, and whether you have the bandwidth for that next upcoming project.

5. Understand Polychronic versus Monochronic Time

Remember when I asked if it ever seems you and your team members are operating from different perceptions of time? The truth is, you probably are. Understanding this can open up windows of insight into how you (and others) approach your work.

We live in a monochronic culture, which sees time as “being divided into fixed elements that can be organized, quantified and scheduled.” Time is linear. Time can and should be organized into a daily routine. “Obviously,” you’re thinking. “Doesn’t everyone think that?”

Actually, no. Not only are there entire polychronic cultures (parts of Latin America, sub-Sahara Africa, and the Middle East), there are polychrons even within monochronic cultures who view time as “a never-ending river, flowing from the infinite past, through the present, into the infinite future.” That’s not just highfalutin nonsense. Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. They prefer task-switching and thrive in environments without a fixed schedule. (Incidentally, these preferences are also exhibited in a growing number of digital natives.) They’re often late because, to them, time is truly relative.

If you and your team members can understand your own natural perception of time, you can harness each individual’s strengths for a stronger, more balanced team. For example, you might not want to put one of your polychrons in charge of project scheduling and forecasting (and they’ll probably thank you for it). But you can and should expect them to track their time and meet deadlines just like their monochronic counterparts, recognizing that some employees will produce their most brilliant work with a little less structure.

Those with polychronic tendencies actually see time as circular. Click To Tweet It Takes Time to Make Time

If there’s one thing content marketers are constantly running short on, it’s time. At any given moment, each person on your team might have dozens of projects in the pipeline—all in different stages of planning, ideation, and creation. With so many moving parts, it’s not easy to pause long enough to collect and analyze the up-front data about your content production process. But unless you do—and remember, much of these metrics are available via automated tools—you’ll always be left guessing how long things take, how much bandwidth your team has, and whether you have the resources you need to meet your goals, now and in the future.

This post is part of a paid sponsorship between Workfront and Convince & Convert.

http://ift.tt/2AhhIFG