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So what's “Project Fit” (aka CUT BACKS/LAYOFFS)?
[query] Is it a good idea to say a firm No due to medical reasons to a new night shift project I'm hired in?Accenture
I recently got a night shift project (2 days ago) that requires me to work from 10:30pm till 7:30am
I'm not comfortable with these timings and I'm thinking to ask my manager to put me on Bench (Due to medical reasons that involve mental health)
Is it a nice idea to say a firm No to a new project I'm hardlocked into, due to night shifts?
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I think it helps to just be able to let go, and divorce yourself emotionally from the work. End of the day as much as you would like it to be so, you’re not making art - it’s not supposed to reflect anything about you or what you care about. So if they want crap, ok, here’s some crap. And when a client or project comes along that you can really make shine, that’s the time to go for it.
Otherwise just smile and say yes.
Think of it as THE work, not YOUR work. If you want to make stuff that’s dear to your heart, you can’t really do it on a paycheck. Do it as a side gig.
Yep. Another way to look at it is to not take it personally. It’s not about you and the feedback is not a reflection of you. To answer your exact question, it’s a combination of all three. If you’re client facing and taking feedback directly, there is fine tuned persona that we put on to graciously receive feedback and act like a partner in the process.
I don’t really think of projects as projects so much as a series of creative challenges or experiments. So when I get feedback my mindset isn’t, they’re fucking this thing up, it’s alright, let’s see what happens/let’s see if we can pull that off.
If it ends up being terrible I try something else that I think will work better, and make a case for that new thing. But the truth is, a lot of the time I realize the thing I was holding onto so dearly wasn’t actually that big of a deal.
seconding this
I’m great at masking on calls, but behind the scenes I’m losing my mind. Definitely not healthy but I can’t get over the frustration either. It’s hard
There was a famous filmmaker whose philosophy was, when the studio gives feedback, nod along, tell them “great idea,” “yeah we should definitely cast another person for that role” etc - and then just don’t do it.
Depending on what it is and who says it, this is definitely something I do. If the feedback is directly from the client and there’s a reason, of course I consider it seriously. If it’s just some account person’s subjective opinion without any solid reason, then “sure, we’ll explore that” and then you ignore it.
Sometimes, receiving feedback can feel like untying a knot—it takes patience and discernment. Some feedback is constructive and valuable, while other comments may seem misguided, especially when clients lack a clear vision or understanding of the project scope. Knowing when to take feedback to heart and when to let it go is key.
Decide if it's a hill worth dying on. If the change won't drastically affect the outcome, sometimes it’s okay to let smaller things go for the sake of maintaining a good working relationship.
If all else fails and the client is adamant, ensure everything is documented and agreed upon. This will protect you if the design doesn't perform as expected due to their changes.
Do you have project managers/account? Usually these are the people policing scope-creep
Yep and usually these clients rack up the change orders in the process. I think this feedback to me is more a response to me seeming confused when I receive conflicting feedback, which does frustrate me simply because it feels like trying to untangle a knot… but I do get that doing things over and iterating is part of the business, etc.
Emotional management is a critical skill.
I consider myself 'good at taking feedback' and my thought process through it has multiple levels. When taking feedback the highest priority is to get through the difficult conversation with the same or better relationship with the client afterwards. So even though you both will feel uncomfortable as the client fears hurting your feelings or sounding stupid and you the designer fears that the client won't like what you made or won't like you....even though this is the underlying elephant in the room, you have to react in a way that preserves trust and friendliness with the client. If the client sees that you cannot take feedback without becoming emotional, or disrespectful to them, they don't just lose trust or respect for your work, it's seen as a weakness in your ability to communicate and take in difficult information. They need to feel comfortable giving you feedback without feeling like they are hurting your feelings or offending you because if they don't feel like they can give feedback, they won't just stop giving it and approve your design, they'll find a designer they are comfortable with and stop working with you. I focus heavily on wanting to hear the client's respectful of course but unfiltered opinion so that they can speak freely and know that I'll take everything with a grain of salt, consider what they are saying, why they are saying it AND THEN decide what to do with the feedback. Most important thing is to understand what is important to the client as they ARE a part of the process and an equally respected person in the exchange. It's not art where you express anything you want, it's design so you have to express the information at hand in the best way and the client might have info you need about what is priority and what needs to be communicated through the deisgn. But you gotta make them feel like you'll still be cool after they tell you that something is or isn't working, if they don't feel they can be real with you, they'll just fire you and it become a lose lose. Better to just boss up and hear them out and then use your design brain and talent to know when to listen to them and when to explain why that approach won't work in the way they want it to and suggest something better.
I appreciate this insight. Does asking questions to better understand what the client is thinking and asking them to talk you through things come off as disrespectful? To me its just digging deeper so I can understand the source of miscommunication and get to the heart of what the client’s objectives are. My boss however, seems to read this as me being emotional. Im not - im confused and looking for clarity.
For example, if on round 1 I was told that the most important color is red and its imperative to use red in all of the assets, but suddenly on round 3 they hate all the red, why did we put red there? Im… confused to say the least. But is it rude to say “the brief specified red, has something changed?”
The nuance of this is really confusing, because I dont feel emotional, but I am very direct in my communication style. And in some environments thats celebrated but in others its a problem.
Thank you for asking because I relate to 100% of this. Long answer below.
I’m neurospicy and find it difficult to mask at work. I worry I’ll get called out on it like you have (sorry about that btw). So, here’s what I do:
•• if I’m wfh, the cam turns off the moment I peaked frustration. This might be poor etiquette, but it helps me endure those kinds of meetings for client work that’s literally just like what you described
•• Taking deep, long breaths to help me relax. Idk if this actually helps my face, but it helps in my head.
•• Asking a lot of clarifying questions and repeating answers to make sure I’m getting the right feedback and clearer direction.
•• Explaining the reason for creative decisions. That way, acct and strat have that knowledge and can *hopefully* iterate it to the client in a persuasive manner. And remembering just because they can, doesn’t mean they will.
•• Being on client calls to do the previous bullet myself. Not much of this on this new account though, which is frustrating, but that helps because you can explain and workshop with the “horse” so to speak.
•• Having a trusted person at work to vent to and joke with in a personal chat box, best in real time. The gif convos never fail to make me laugh and change my overall mood and my stone cold face.
•• Remembering that we don’t know what we don’t see. Truthfully, I have no clue what causes the client to change their mind and why no one is saying anything to get them on track. I either ask “I recall xyz, did something change” or I do the next best thing
•• Giving grace (this is closely tied to my faith/religious beliefs). People always mean well and do their best. That’s literally all we can do, so giving room for that to include 1,001 neverminds, try this agains, and a lot more inconsistency helps me a lot.
This is what’s helped me, so I hope something here can help you too!
I get paid either way. But my technique is to not react or read the email for 24 hours of I feel myself getting frustrated. After 24 hours, I re-read the feedback and am usually in a better space to think through it.
I can’t read through all of that 👆
Simple truth? You care way too much or maybe you’re placing too much personal value on your work
No, caring isn’t wrong. I care. But choosing battles is important and caring too much (as I define it) can absolutely cause grief. Again, I’ve been there and I’ll be there again. But I’ve dialed it way back and actually enjoy my job more as a direct result
This problem is real. And it needs to be addressed on both sides of the equation. On the creative side and on the brand side. I have given workshops on evaluating creative work as well as providing and accepting creative feedback and one of the biggest issues is that we don’t work hard enough on the front end to make sure that the work survives on the backend. It also doesn’t help that we have created a corporate culture that believes if one person wins the other person loses. I wish there was room here to deliver all of the things that need to happen to solve this problem, but this is a problem way beyond the reach of a Fishbowl post. If anyone wants to see a way forward, reach out.
At the end of the day I just remember they are the paying client and it’s our job to make them happy.
Been through so many campaigns and I came to realize many years back that there’s a lot of ways to change something and not screw it up. And I rarely if ever agree to changes in meetings. It’s usually about saying “let’s look at it”. Also realize that clients aren’t TRYING to ruin work. They sometimes just don’t know better and we need to (in the words of Bill Bernbach) give them what they want. Just not what they expect.
It’s very hard I’ll be honest. At first it was easy to see markups but if it happens in the next round/s I definitely get frustrated and just do it. Sometimes I’ll have to put my foot down and explain why I designed it a certain way.