Well, the zine experiment is over for now.
Canva trial ended and I’m not quite proficient enough in Figma. (although the scrapbook was made in keynote…)
Anyway, it was freeing for design but ended up being more limiting for content. Screenshots (my main digital calorie) were harder, and links were a pain. Back to boring old email for now.
As a result, this one has a lot of words. And apparently viewing the whole email may require clicking through to substack. :/
So I’m gonna do this up front.
I’ll be available for freelance work starting next week. Lots of new updates coming to the website, but in the meantime, let’s chat.
alex@stratscraps.com
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STRAT:
ONE
I’ve done a fair amount of behavior change work recently, leading me to go back to some classics from the archive.
One thing I found was this gem of a screenshot;
I am constantly trying to quote this but can never remember the specifics… Also, obviously not sure where it is from, so if anyone knows, please say so in the comments. 🤘
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I chatted with Rob Engelsman of Quick Study this week and walked away smarter than I started. They do Strategy work for clients. And they do it quickly.
Later, I remembered that at one point I was tasked with creating a process for “Fast Strategy” (I seem to be asked to this a lot).
Here was the first draft. These are by no means the right order for these questions, but I think a good set of starting points.
»»
Where you get the answers for these questions is a whole other thing, and super specific to the project. HOWEVER…
I do think that 90% of the time, you can get to a the right set of decisions through two sets of information:
A solid knowledge of how advertising works (in theory you should already have this)
A dissection of the category and it’s unique implications. (you may or may not have this already depending on prior experience)
With those two things, you can usually get to a recommendation pretty quickly.
TWO
There’s been a couple thoughts percolating in my brain for a while now. It is several different ideas, but I know they are all related – I just haven’t cracked the singular narrative. In an effort to practice as I preach, I’m going to put all the pieces down next to one another and share.
THOUGHT ONE: The Stages of Play.
I’ve talked about this a fair amount. Kids go through different phases of play as they develop, and there is a stage around the age of 2-3 where they are essentially playing independently, but alongside another kid.
Here are all the stages kids go through;
Unoccupied play (Birth-3 months): Makes a lot of movement with their arms, legs, hands, feet, etc. They are learning about and discovering how their body moves.
Solitary play (Birth-2 years): Content to play alone. They are not interested in playing with others quite yet.
Onlooker play (2 years): Watches other children playing but does not play with them yet.
Parallel play (2+ years): Plays alongside or near others, but does not play with them.
Associative play (3-4 years): Starts to interact with others during play. A child might be doing an activity related to the kids around him, but might not actually be interacting with another child. For example, kids might all be playing on the same piece of playground equipment but all doing different things like climbing, swinging, etc.
Cooperative play (4+ years): Plays with others. Child has interest in both the activity and other children involved in playing they are participating in cooperative play.
I think I’m interested in parallel play because it is the type of play that I enjoy most.
But that got that me thinking about how adults play.
(What should be called “Preoccupied Play”)
THOUGHT TWO A: Parallel Communication
Parallel play is also interesting because it also makes me think about the ways in which we communicate information – at work or otherwise.
You could break communication down into two categories. face to face or shoulder to shoulder.
Face to face conversations are seen as more formal, more intimate and more expected.
But there is also that boomer-esque anecdote about how to have hard conversations as a man – at a bar or in a car – or any other time when you are both facing the same direction.
We don’t do enough shoulder to shoulder conversation in a work setting.
It is always face to face, let me show you what I have, then you let me know what you think.
We’ve designed communication to be competitive. When in most instances, what we need is to be cooperative or receptive.
THOUGHT TWO B: Scheduling Diatribes
I found this recently and it helped me understand a lot of the above
Similarly, I have had this saved for a while. Possible I’ve shared it before, but it seems relevant.
The point is;
“what’s the purpose of this meeting” is a crucial question to ask, but its even more important to recognize what type of communication is occurring in the moment and if it’s possible for that type of communication to achieve the desired outcome.
THOUGHT THREE
All of these thoughts are byproduct from my inner diatribe around how to position myself as a freelancer.
My skills are based in Associative (we’re all on the same play structure, doing our thing) and cooperative play.
Discourse seems to be the communication expectation, but I prefer dialogue.
Ultimately I realized, discourse is the output from starting with a blank page.
Which is a huge part of what I do.
But dialogue and debate happen when you’re brought in to asses progress. To spot patterns of thought. To identify premises of thought and add alternatives. To poke and iterate and consider what something could become in tandem with the incumbent team.
To reconsider how teams work together. To find ways to test an idea for nothing. To build the scaffolding around a thought.
Anyway, I warned you there wasn’t a single narrative yet. Just atoms swimming in the primordial goo of thought.
SCRAPS
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HOT TIP:
Use these options in keynote when making 4Cs visuals etc. Also, makes it super easy to do dumb stuff like this:
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Something I was reminded of this week:
CREATIVE MEDIA > CREATIVE + MEDIA
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"A great meeting has three key elements:
1) the desired outcome of the meeting is clear ahead of time;
2) the various options are clear, ideally ahead of time;
3)and the roles of the participants are clear at the time. ...
I think that's the single largest source of optimization for a company: the makeup of their meetings. To be clear, it's not about fewer meetings because meetings serve a purpose. Rather, it’s key to improve the meetings, themselves. A lot of my efforts focus on teaching people this framework. Ironically, I find that most people are just challenged by that stuff."
— Spotify Founder and CEO Daniel Ek
(formatting mine)
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Write more memos.
Writing solidifies, chat dissolves.Substantial decisions start and end with an exchange of complete thoughts, not one-line-at-a-time jousts.
If it's important, critical, or fundamental, write it up, don't chat it down.
Be unequivocally clear.
If your words can be perceived in different ways, they'll be understood in the way which does the most harm.
Be patient with your team.
Never expect or require someone to get back to you immediately unless it’s a true emergency.
The expectation of immediate response is toxic.
Meetings are presumed wasteful (until proven valuable).Five people in a room for an hour isn't a one hour meeting, it's a five hour meeting. Be mindful of the tradeoffs.
Always find the gaps, and fill them. Ask if things are clear. Ask what you left out. Ask if there was anything someone was expecting that you didn't cover. Address the gaps before they widen with time.
found without author attribution:
Memos are one of the most significant tools I've found consistently helps things along wherever they are in the process. memos for decisions, decks for final work.
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This is delightful in an odd sort of way…
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“What is a footnote? It’s a thought trying to escape in another direction.” — Ted Nelson
STAY FOCUSED. WRITE FOOTNOTES.