Production Parallels: Part 1
For years, I was the one standing in front of a classroom, explaining difficult philosophical theories and working with students to assess the implications of these theories for how we all live our lives. I spent hours–no weeks, months… years–perfecting lesson plans, creating assignments, and figuring out how to make abstract concepts come alive for my students. Teaching, as it turns out, is more than just delivering information—it’s about structuring it so people can understand it, then managing as you deliver it. It's about facilitating discussion while ensuring that everyone stays on track. This experience is something I think producers, who lead teams and meetings on a daily basis, can relate to. So, here is a first installment of best practices in teaching that have a parallel in production. Whether you agree or disagree, or have additional insights, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Setting Clear Objectives: What’s the Plan?
One of the first things I learned as a teacher is that you need to organize your class around clear objectives. If you don’t, one of two things will happen—your whole class will check out, doze off and take some sort of mental nap, or you’ll end up lost in a sea of digressions, paradoxes, and Socratic dead-ends that leave everyone confused and frustrated. So, at the outset of a class, I’ve learned to let the students know what they can expect to come. I might begin with, “Today, we’re going to analyze Kant’s categorical imperative and see how it applies to a key moral dilemma that is circulating our news outlets today.” That sets the framework and gives students a reason to stick with me through the mental gymnastics to come.
Production meetings and dailies are different from academic seminars, but the principle of organization is the same. You need to know what you want to get out of the meeting before you gather everyone together and let the conversation ensue. Without clear objectives, a meeting can quickly turn into a time suck that makes everyone wonder why they showed up, or it can splinter into undisciplined tangents of its own, where you’ll find yourself addressing questions that aren’t relevant to most people on the call, or rehashing issues that can be better addressed in one-on-one conversations.
Encouraging Engagement: Get them talking
In a philosophy class, engagement is everything. Lecturing about Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics for 90 minutes straight is a surefire way to watch students’ eyes glaze over. Instead, I’d often break up the lecture with targeted questions or activities that spark debate, draw students out of their shells, and get them grappling with the material on their own terms. For example, I might ask, “Think about your strengths and weaknesses for a moment, what is one thing you could improve upon and how might Aristotle’s advice help you improve?” Once they start identifying how the theory is relevant to their own lives, they start asking questions and developing a point of view. I know they are engaged and I can gauge their understanding of the material.
Likewise, in a production meeting or daily meeting, if no one’s chiming in they are probably less engaged than they should be. Worse, they might not understand what’s going on or what’s really required of them, and you’ll never know it or come to find out only after some major SNAFU. Just like in a classroom, talking at your team during a meeting isn’t always effective. Instead, posing questions to invite them into the conversation can help. It shows them their perspectives are valued and enables you to advise them better on what they need to do in order to get the job done. For example, let's say a client has made a request that could potentially take a project off course, causing major delays. Presenting the problem to the team and checking in with them to see if they have suggestions for keeping the project on track and keeping the client happy will keep them engaged, make them feel empowered and help you pinpoint any areas in need of clarification before moving forward.
Using Time Effectively: No One Wants to Be Here Forever
Philosophy discussions can get wonderfully, painfully lost in the weeds. You start by discussing the nature of justice, and before you know it, you’re in a 30-minute detour about the metaphysics of time. While that’s delightful in theory, it’s a disaster if you’ve got a syllabus to stick to. In my classes, I’d break down discussions into chunks: (1) 15 minutes on Rawls’s two principles of justice, (2) 15 minutes on how they apply to contemporary politics, (3) 10 with an activity that clarifies criticisms of the theory, (4) 10 minutes regrouping and providing feedback. It’s structure within chaos, and it keeps the train moving.
In meetings, time is equally precious. Production schedules are tight, and meetings that drag are meetings no one wants to attend. When time is spent efficiently on each topic that needs to be covered, everything goes more smoothly and everyone gets out the door more quickly and better prepared to apply what they’ve learned: First 5 minutes review progress. Next 10, discuss challenges. Next 5, assign action items. Remaining time, pose and answer questions. It’s a plan that keeps everyone focused and prevents the team from wandering into the abyss.
So, there you have it—the first installment of production parallels. Stay tuned for more!
