Lean Thinking and Visual Effects Industry

The scale and complexity of Visual Effects continues to increase at extremely high rates.  This can be clearly seen in the amount of visual effects shots found in current Audiovisual Productions (Films, TV Series and Games).  Even films that aren´t effects related can contain hundreds of invisible visual effects shots.

At the same time, fast advancements in technology allied to tax incentives offered by several countries have allowed for new VFX boutiques/facilities to be formed as well as for large VFX facilities to open offices around the world in order to attend this increasing demand while trying to lower the cost of their operations.

This has direct impact on the amount resources, companies and professionals required for the creation and production of Visual Effects.

Which impacts how these projects and professionals are managed and on the relationship between the stakeholders: artist, facilities and clients.

The current management methods, tools and techniques used by most of the companies around the world were developed at the end of the 19^th Century/beginning of the 20^th Century for the specific kind of work at that time, of repetitive nature required in factories.  These methods have not evolved at the same rate as the complexity of the work has and are not suitable to attend the requirements of this new era.

They could have been useful several years ago when the projects didn´t have the kind of scale, complexity and didn´t involve so many people as they do today.

The VFX Industry is going thru some really tough times as it can be stated by talking to VFX Artists working in studios around the world, reading several online articles, blogs, forums, by reading the VES Letter.

“An Open Letter To VFX Artists And The Entertainment Industry At Large Visual Effects Society: 2.0”.

All of the issues discussed on the VES Letter are impacting the VFX Market in several ways.  Some of them are here to stay and many will hopefully be solved but this is something that will take time.  While we wait we continue to see VFX Studios around the world shutting down, Down Sizing and Artists going thru some very sad experiences, from being layed off to being exploited in several ways.

Times are tough: delivery timeframes are getting shorter, budgets lower while project complexity and competition from emerging countries, offering lower labor cost, continues to increase.

But it is in times like this, when you are faced with extreme constraints and conditions, that open up opportunities for improvement and Innovation.

So I believe this could be a great moment for the VFX Studios to take action, look inside and find opportunities for improvement in the place where they have the most control.  Inside themselves.

Change comes from within.  In order to expect change from others we should start by changing ourselves.

Big changes are hard and the best way to start is by changing the things that are directly in our control.  So this is a good time to review the current methods and research for new ways to manage projects, artists, facilities and client relations.

As mentioned by Cynthia B Rabe on her Book “The Innovation Killer: How What We Know Limits What We Can Imagine And What Smart Companies Are Doing About It”:

“Our own worst enemy: how the burden of what we know limits what we can imagine”

It is time to step back, think outside the box and visualize the creation and production of Visual Effects from a new perspective.

I believe that Lean Thinking and Management principles can play a very important role in supporting the

VFX industry to adapt and succeed in this complex environment as it has done for other knowledge industries such as Software Development which has gone thru the similar kind of problems as the ones VFX studios are facing today.

It can definitely offer new ways to develop a healthy environment for VFX and specially for the Artists who are paying a big price by having to work weekends and very long hours, resulting in a low quality of life as detailed on the article below:

Hollywood's VFX Shops: Trouble in Boom Times

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1990803,00.html

There are several successful companies in our industry that have been implementing Lean principles in the way the lead their organizations.

Pixar, for example:

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/08/what_google_could_learn_from_p.html

Here the author mentions that Pixar has been looking closely at how Toyota revolutionized the Auto manufacturing business by applying Lean principles and how they were key in developing a culture of continuous improvement which led Toyota to become a leader in its industry.

Please don´t stop reading because I mention an Auto manufacturing company which cannot relate to a creative business such as ours.

Our industry is very different but the Lean Principles and Thinking developed and implemented by Toyota during extremely tough times have been successfully applied to other knowledge work industries such as software development, game development and as mentioned, to the VFX/CGI industry as you may read in the article below.

How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity

http://hbr.org/2008/09/how-pixar-fosters-collective-creativity/ar/1

In the Article Ed Catmull suggests several Principles for managing a creative organization.

Most of these principles can be related to the principles found in Lean Thinking/Management.

It is funny to see how people react when you start talking about Lean and you mention Toyota.

They say: “We are a creative business not a manufacturing company.”  “We are not a factory we are creative.”

This is true but at the same time the way most of the VFX Facilities manage their Artists and Projects is by using management methodologies developed ages ago for Mass Production in Factories!  These methods don´t work for the kind of creative/knowledge work we do.  So this is a place where change could generate positive impact.

The Paper below is a great document, written by Mary Poppendieck one of the most influential experts on Lean product and software development, were she brilliantly describes Lean Thinking.  It has a bit of history on the subject and details how these principles can be applied to several industries:

Principles of Lean Thinking

http://www.gregoryneilassociates.com/articles/lean_thinking.pdf

Here are some other references to literature written by Lean Leaders such as:

-       Donald Reinersten (Author of “The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development”)

o    http://www.reinertsenassociates.com/

-       Jefrey Liker  (Author of the famous book “Toyota Way”),

o    http://www-personal.umich.edu/~liker/

-       David Anderson (Author of “Kanban” a incredible book with details on how Lean can help companies mature and achieve a culture of continuous improvement),

o    http://agilemanagement.net/index.php/Blog/the_principles_of_the_kanban_method

o    http://agilemanagement.net/

-       Mary and Tom Poppendieck,

o    http://www.leanessays.com/p/topic-index.html

-       Clinton Keith (Author: Agile Game Development with Scrum)

o    http://clintonkeith.com/

These people have amazing real life experiences of how Lean Principles can create radical shifts in the management of complex creative/knowledge work, achieving significant results in quality, productivity, team engagement and overall improvement in several organizations in different industries.

When reading the articles on Lean Thinking, such as the ones above, it become clear how these principles could help our industry become more effective and change the way we do business.

This starts by creating positive change inside the VFX Facilities or your own department or team and from there it spreads and creates a much positive interaction with the other stakeholders involved in up and downstream processes.

In the case of the Visual Effects industry this could help us develop closer relationships between the Artist, Facilities and Studios.

We need to start collaborating and stop negotiating as in the paper written by David Anderson:

http://www.agilemanagement.net/index.php/blog/Stop_Negotiating_Start_Collaborating

I have personally been using Lean Principles to manage my projects since 2009.  Although I only managed to scratch the surface of implementing these principles, the positive results my team and I experienced in terms of quality and productivity were enough for us to get a grasp of the power behind these principles.  Since then I have continued to study this subject more and more – day after day, reading books, participating in Workshops and implementing them on the projects I Supervise.

I am very fortunate to work in such an amazing and unique industry.

This document is my 2 cents to try and offer something in our journey to a brighter future and participate in helping improve our industry.

I hope some of this makes sense.

I love my work and want to be sure that this incredible industry continues to thrive and offer its members and other people who are dreaming of joining a great and fun future.

Best Rgds.

Francisco Lima

VFX Supervisor