You Can Have Any Stupid Opinion You Want

That’s what my Dad said to me, not in anger but in exasperation, when my sister and I were arguing about the war in Vietnam.

It holds true for just about any opinion about anything.

What Dad’s statement means to me is, yes I have an opinion, and in the Big Picture, it’s just plain irrelevant to anything or anyone – except me.

And yes, my opinions about Vietnam were really important. My sister had it all wrong.​

But opinions can be dangerous – if they spark a riot, sway the public as if it were fact, cause a divorce, or send you to a crappy restaurant.

Think about the origin of your opinions on anything. The type of music you like, what you wear, where you’ll be ‘seen’, how you vote. Are they originated in experience? A convincing argument? Research?

Until there is proof, we just have opinions.

And yes, they are stupid.​ Except for mine.

Saturday and Live Music

So my husband and I went out last night to see The Roxy Gunn Project.

There is a lot of live music in Las Vegas. On any given night you can go to a local bar and hear amazing music. Often that guy or gal just happened to be a session player on a hit record or toured for a few years with some platinum record holder.

The level of talent is awesome. Support for live music has really waned in this recession. And we all need a night out more than ever.

I love live music, and as I’m a bit ‘older’ I tend to listen to blues, classic rock and rockabilly. I always try to get out to catch Roxy – she’s a rocker, young, and the real deal.

The band is tight; they do awesome originals and just kill covers.

So do what I say: go out tonight and support live music in your city. If you’re heading to Vegas, check out The Roxy Gunn Project.

And be sure to put money in the tip jar.

Ageism in Agencies – Does it Exist?

There was a discussion in one of my LinkedIn Groups about age. Here’s the question and below that, my response:

"Q: At what age does a HR, CEO finds the candidate not employable? late 40s, 50s, 60s...be it creative, client servicing..."​

The idea of too old depends on HR and the hiring manager. HR usually vets incoming resumes for open positions; and if they’re worth their salt, also actively follows talent they would like on their team.

Age shouldn't be an issue. At all. But it is.

Just because someone is pushing 50, 60 or even 70, doesn't mean their talents are dusty and they are void of current knowledge.

The problem becomes one of perception. HR, the CEO or hiring manager may be well under 40, may not have experience working with someone ‘older’, and their idea of an individual in that age-range resembles their parents.

If a person in a position to hire has had the awesome experience of working their way up through an agency with a mentor who is in that age-range, they may consider hiring someone ‘that old’. A perceptual shift.

However, I’m seeing a lot of ‘hot, young agencies’ comprised of 20- 30- somethings who are successful – but the learning curve is steep. Lots of time and dollars wasted ‘re-inventing’ what the seasoned ‘ad man’ (and woman) already know. Bill Gates said, “Success is a lousy teacher.” He is right.

Buoyed with an experienced team member, the young shops can get where they want to go faster avoiding common pitfalls. This translates to more time to work on great creative, thus eliminating unnecessary costs in time and materials.

Ageism is alive in advertising. And actually, everywhere. Those of us over 40, or 50, or 60 have a lot of knowledge. And we’re ready to share.

So to answer your question: there is not a ‘too old’. An individual doesn't fit if their experience, skills and talent are not relevant to your needs.

What do you think? If you’re ‘over 40’ have you experienced shift in your ability to get hired in your field; regarded for insight or sought-out for opinion/advice?

If you are ‘under 40’ do you find those who are older are less or more creative, capable or relevant? Would you hire someone over 50 or 60?

Does your Client Require Collaborative Software?

Is your client asking for better access to information? Real-time updates? File-sharing?

Are you pitching a client that requires a collaborative system to be in place – and functioning – before they even consider your agency?

Clients want a better working relationship with their agencies. They don’t want to wait for updates, and feel (either right or wrong) that more collaboration leads to greater efficiencies.

For an in-house department, you need to work closely with your ‘internal clients’. Often, they feel you work for them and they deserve to know – right now – what’s going on with their projects.

I know, sometimes you want them out of your hair so you can work. But read on. This is good for you…

In comes…ta da! Collaborative software.
It’s a common space to not only share, but aggregate information that provides all users with real-time data and reduces redundancy, errors, and captures that basic stuff that can fall through the cracks.

These days, more and more clients are requiring their agencies to provide an increased level of collaboration – through systems that document progress and share files as you work through a project.

There’s a lot more transparency with these systems. Therefore, everyone needs to be on their ‘A’ Game and…best behavior. That means – you must use the software as it was intended – entering updates, uploading files, or whatever your defined process requires. And I mean diligently.

We’ve all done a version ‘collaboration’ through email for years. There are servers full of terabytes of old CYA email – a lot of it with attachments. Time to put that data in one place that was designed for collaboration.

With these programs, there is no need to search through email; documents on your desktop or server; or in one or more ‘systems’ you currently use. What a waste of time.

A Forbes article says this:

“Apparently most of us prefer to communicate via email rather than face-to-face or over the phone – the average employee spends 28 hours per week writing emails and searching for information mostly contained within emails. Choosing a tool that facilitates natural interaction among individuals instead of the static nature of email is the first step to adding value and driving efficiencies in managing everyday tasks…” (emphasis added)

28 hours. Way too much time. And I know that email is THE hardest habit to break.

But get with the program and reduce all that extra work. Get everything in one place – and make sure everyone with [appropriate] access contributes. Collaborators from Creative to Accounting are entering data relevant to the project. From specs, to schedules, to estimates and updates – all the way through to billing.

Whether it’s an internal or external client, collaborative tools make the exchange (and tracking) of information more efficient, and more….collaborative.

Are you using collaborative software? I’d love to hear from you.​

Inappropriate Tools

No, this isn’t some guy who hit on you at a bar.

This is about taking something that was meant for a specific purpose and using it to perform a different task.

Like using a knife as a screwdriver. Or the heel of a shoe for a hammer. Or Excel for everything.

I like Excel. Heck, I love Excel. But it has its place.

There are plenty of agencies and in-house marketing departments out there using Excel for everything from Job Forms and Briefs to Schedules, Budgets, and Reports. This creates a lot of redundancy – and therefore, a lot of data-entry.

That’s fine if you have a couple clients and a few jobs. But it’s a nightmare with dozens of clients and hundreds of jobs.

Worse yet, everyone is using their own version of forms that you originally created - with a lot of time and consideration - for the purpose of consistency.

Yet many agencies still turn to Excel for most, if not all, of their daily agency management.

Imagine a solution where you – and your team – input data that’s relevant to what they do every day (all that stuff you have to track and measure – like timesheets), and it’s all gathered in one place.

Reports gather all that data in one place, and you can search or slice-it-n-dice-it any way you want.

There is software out there that does exactly that. If you need some help researching solutions, I can be of assistance.

If you truly feel that Excel (or any office / Google Docs / cloudware program) is the solution, I can help you build a better process.

No matter how simple or complex the solution you choose, you need structure (that means process), a little bit of training, and compliance to make it really work for you.

Oh, and that guy at the bar. He is inappropriate.

'Lean In' and All That...

I love this quote:
"Sure he [Fred Astaire] was great, but don't forget Ginger Rogers did everything he did backwards...and in high heels!" -- Bob Thaves

That’s right.

Well, with all this hullabaloo about Sheryl Sandberg and Marissa Mayer – strong, executive women doing it all – it’s time to come back to reality.

There are a lot of women out there who ‘have it all’, are ‘doing it all’, and didn’t exactly plan it that way.

Careers, kids, a husband or partner, house, car, student loans, a dry bar appointment at 6:30am and a quick detour to grab Starbucks before work.

That’s one scenario and not the one that is relevant…

Job, kids, mom/sis/aunt/other relative/friend, apartment, bus, student loans, and a mad dash to get her hair kinda dry before she rushes off to work.

That’s the common scenario.

I don’t want to be a downer here. Instead, let’s be realistic – the fact of the matter is that I really don’t care about Sheryl or Marissa because they are so far from what the 99% (or insert your percentage here) do, that reading articles about them is just a waste of time.

I have been in the ‘business world’ for, let’s see…75% of my life. And I’ve been reading the same crap since the ‘60’s.

So listen here, if you want women to be empowered:
let’s get the REAL unemployment figures reduced (the media and government stats are simply a joke);
let’s have a REAL conversation – no scratch that – REAL solution to affordable, safe daycare (all this healthcare talk would be irrelevant if we had jobs);
let’s cut through the crap where the good ol’ boy network still thrives, and women managers (for some reason) stick it to their female subordinates;
and don’t mess with working women’s hours so they can’t manage the routine they have carefully carved-out.

I’m sure there’s more. A lot more.

I don’t know if Sheryl and Marissa wear high heels while dancing backwards, but my guess is that they have a lot of assistance if they do. That makes it look easy. And evidently makes them experts.

Yeah, I know. They are successful execs, but how many women are actually in powerful positions in their respective companies? I rest my case.

I’m glad women are getting (some) executive positions, but this ‘conversation’ just isn’t going away. Therefore, I will not read anything about those two women at all – because they are the only women we’re hearing about. Sad.

More than that, they just aren’t relevant to any woman I know.

Let’s get back to work.​

Fixing Advantage – or Just About Anything

It doesn’t matter what you use, from Advantage to Workamajig, I can predict that if the agency management software you are using isn’t ‘working’, there’s more at issue than the software itself.

Blame the software. Always the first response.

In my post a couple days ago, I asked for questions/issues that you are having with Advantage, in particular. I happen to know the software very well – that’s why.

But the lessons here apply to any technology solution you are using.

I received an email from a project manager in an agency who is doing ALL of her updates after work. And these updates take her two to four hours a night. She’s really sick of it, and looking for a different job because she wants her life back.

What? Advantage is a database program, and everyone in her agency has access...that is specific to their role. She should be able to see, from her computer, the progress of her projects and make adjustments during the course of the day.

So we chatted, got online and I took a look at how she was using the software.

In her project schedule, every line entry was unique and required direct input; tasks were assigned to some employees (not everyone was available to assign); no time per task was allocated (therefore no automated resource planning). She input due dates only – manually. And only key dates.

Everything was straight data-entry.

Then she prints out her schedule every morning and during the day, hand-writes changes. After work, she spends her evenings updating everything ​from her hand-written notes.

This is one person in a 200-person agency. There are eight PMs. Each uses the technology differently.

They reduced a comprehensive database to an Excel spreadsheet.

Training on the appropriate use of the technology; developing a process to use it; and compliance in its use. That’s the magic formula for successfully using agency management software. 

We then went where she had never gone before – how to use the software – appropriately.

Schedule templates, allocated hours for tasks, assigned employees (this required getting HR to set up everyone in their proper role). Pushing tasks out to employees – and requiring them to use their task list – plus having staff update it themselves (Gasp! which means they mark it ‘complete’ – no, that is not hard). Now, this PM wouldn't have to update everything. Herself. Every night.

Wow, they’ve been paying for this technology for years, and never used it as it was intended.

Here are their next steps: Review the setup – which really needs an overhaul. Nothing had been done since they installed it – seven years ago. Review roles and designate them appropriately. Set up appropriate tasks for the schedule (and condense it down from the 700+ that had been created) and build templates. It makes for fast work of getting all projects (large or small) in the system.

Then last, but not least, train and enforce compliance. You need management’s full support here, because this is where the whining comes in. You will actually be asking your colleagues to be a part of the solution. It’s only a mouse-click for crying out loud. Not any harder than an IM to their friends about lunch.

And I only covered project schedules here. Think of what you can do when you get the entire agency on board?