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Sunday, August 02, 2009

A PRODUCT IS NOT FINISHED WHEN IT GOES TO PRESS

Steve Cole writes:

We use a system called the FLAP LIST.
FLAP = Finish Like A Professional

We have a Word document which lists everything that does (or might) need to be done after a product is finished. Things like "update the GGIC catalog file" and "put it on the shopping cart" and "send the press release" and "send the review copies" and of course "pay the artists and writers" and "send the emails to those getting free copies because they proofed or playtested so they can request them."

We duplicate the basic list and create a unique document for each new release. Some steps do not apply to some products, but those are easy to delete. If a particular product forces the creation of one more thing to check or do, we add that to the permanent FLAP list since just maybe it will apply to a future product.

This has kept us out of no end of trouble.

The concept started because (due to my intense and intimate discourse with my customers, who literally know everything from the time of day I finished a product to what I had for lunch) there were customers who wanted product B done who started bombarding me with emails the second that Product A was finished. It was so easy to get fired up about the new project and leave key steps of the old project unfinished. So, now, my customers are trained not to bombard me about the next project until the FLAP list is finished for the current project.

This avoids having artists and writers politely nag me when I forget to pay them. I never forget to pay them because of the FLAP list. The guys at GGIC love my FLAP list since they know they can ask me for the updated Excel file any hour of any day and it will already be up to date, so I don't have to stop working and update it and send it to them.