Brendan Coots
Forum Replies Created
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Let’s define worth:
– Quality of work, in terms of the style, look and degree of professionalism of the finished product
– Quality of work, in terms of being able to match the requested specs
– Quality of work, in terms of organization and layout that allows quick changes rather than poorly planned “total overhauls” when one basic element changes
– Speed the work is completed
– Employee’s attitude – do you have to ride their butt to get anything done?
In the end, “worth” is very hard to define since it would require you to self-analyze all of the above points and put a dollar figure to them. In the end, the old saying is true – Everything is worth exactly what its purchaser will pay for it. $30k may sound low, but are there higher offers out there? Could you realistically make $35k with another company? You should probably shop yourself around if you think so. If it’s an option, you may want to just continue freelancing with them and hope for the best, but I’d take slightly lower GUARANTEED pay any day.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
What you’re asking for sounds an awful lot like Six Sigma, which is almost impossible to apply to service companies. A manufacturer has the benefit of saying “the average worker can apply 10 propellers to 10 beanies per hour” but we can’t do that because there are too many varying levels of skill, creativity, attention to detail etc. across the production environment.
You’re looking at a custom database with a front end, such as Filemaker Pro. One method that could work is to set up 10 “levels” per job function that you lump all employees into, such as “Level 10 Editor = Lead Editor” and “Level 1 Editor = Intern.” The more levels, the easier it is to categorize and it’s more fair to employees. You can set expected throughput for each of those levels based on your experience and past results, and control what work is even presented to employees based on their ranking. The level 1 guy is only ever asked to label tapes, and based on your experience SHOULD be able to label 100 tapes per work-hour. The level 10 editor is only asked to do the final polish and is expected to deliver 20 minutes of finished product per work-hour. The “Level 3 Motion Graphics” guy is only asked to do lower thirds and should be able to deliver 5 per hour. It will be tough to group out the work like this, but if you really are talking about 40-60 people it will be worth the effort.
From here, you assign a rank to each employee and communicate the expectations that rank bestows on them. A manager (NOT the employee) is expected to assign the work out to each employee, and then log their actual results in a central database. John Smith, a Level 1 Editor (intern) was given 1 Unit of work (which for this category is 100 labeled tapes) , and it took 2 hours. That is one more hour than expected, and your DB should reflect that.
Your central database will need some sort of front-end for inputting all the data and eventually plotting it in some meaningful way so that you can analyze throughput and, hopefully, track progress and spot the really bad apples. Using a database, you can even assign acceptable deviations from the norm and have it “flag” the agregious cases. The intern who took 15 minutes too long isn’t a big deal, but the guy who slept on the job and took three hours probably needs a talking to. Your database could highlight the results that fall outside of this acceptable deviation, giving you an easy way to see where your bottlenecks are.One added benefit is that this gives all of your employees specific goals if they would like to rise in the ranks and earn higher pay. Want to be a Level III Editor? Here’s the requirements, prove you can meet them, and you’re in. It all sounds very cold and corporate, but if you are managing 40-60 people you need some way to control costs and keep people from hiding in the cracks and dragging productivity down. Without a good tracking system, a few bad apples truly will make everyone look bad, and are difficult to impossible to root out.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
“I was thinking of sending her a letter – stating that her final disc will be released upon final payment; AND that any use of ANY graphics I created for her is forbidden until final payment is paid. “
That would be a retroactive contract and, like all contracts, without her signature of agreement it would be thrown out by any judge before they even read it. It’s a waste of your time.
I would, however, immediately send her a certified letter containing a Cease and Desist Order (if you can’t afford a lawyer, here’s a standard C&D that can be modified to your needs) covering all the materials you provided to her. This is legally binding since you CAN prove you created the works and own the copyright. If she continues to use the materials after receiving the notice you can sue for much more than the $450 she owes you ($150,000).
Even if you have no plans to sue, this is smart business to preserve your rights and remove the “doormat” sign from your back.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
No contract = you’re hosed, plain and simple. Giving a client finished goods before payment, without a contract? That’s just plain suicidal.
The only way you could even hope to win in small claims is if you have emails or other written correspondence wherein she agreed to pay a certain amount that she has not paid. Even then, good luck getting a judge to side with you because that’s not strong evidence since it could be fake, and she could claim it is, your word against hers. In a toss-up like that the judge will opt to do nothing, rather than financially reprimand the defendent without clear proof. The most likely outcome is that the judge will excoriate you for not using a contract and send you on your way.
Chalk it up to learning and never work without a contract again.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
As Mike points out, a custom solution (preferably web-based) is the way to go. Quick access to features and overall ease of use is absolutely critical for any system like this to succeed. Otherwise, people WILL get lazy here and there and, once the information is no longer fully up to date, the system becomes useless and the wheels begin to fall off the cart. In my experience, most off-the-shelf systems have a learning curve that leads to user apathy, they tend to lock you into a specific and particular workflow/feature set, and they generally lack key features for folks in our industry. There are post-industry-specific solutions like Farmer’s Wife, but they can be very expensive.
Any competent PHP web developer can bang something out in a matter of days to get you started, and add features as you need them. Here’s some other advantages of a system like this:
– No expensive software, updates, multiple licenses etc.
– Universal access from any where (say, a beach in Hawaii), and any time because it’s simply web-based
– Scalable, which can be hard to find in lower cost off-the-shelf solutions
– Customizable to your heart’s content. Not generally possible with OTS solutions
– Can be added onto as funds/needs grow
– Features like content management, CRM, to-do’s etc. are all easy to code in PHP and save thousands compared to software-based solutionsBut the best part has to be the wide availability of PHP programmers out there. You aren’t buying into some limited system that, should it break down, takes weeks to get back up and running because a specialist has to be flown out from Sweden. There are probably more web developers in your area than auto mechanics.
Most PHP developers worth their salt charge between $15-$40/hr. depending on where you live and the complexity of your requirements. Most should be able to get a bare bones system up within a few days of work. This means your initial system could cost as little as $250.Our current system is web-based (PHP) and includes a secure client area with video previews, artist management, CRM, equipment tracking, job tracking and a wide range of other features, all hooked together in a useful architecture that is easy to use and fairly sophisticated. Users actually USE it, clients love it, and we’re much more productive as a result.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Might have better luck using Qmaster instead. Probably easier to set up!
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Not really helpful I know, but why would a Flame artist need a 2pop, especially since it’s a digital file you are providing? Why would he have the need to visually sync a digital file to its audio? Confused.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
Definitely sounds like resizing to me, the specific problems you are having show up when you use the wrong dimensions when embedding a Flash video. Make sure he is accounting for (and adding in pixels for) the size of the toolbar/playbar if there is one.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com -
YESSSS!!!!!
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU
It’s about time someone did this. Perfection.
Brendan Coots
Splitvision Digital
http://www.splitvisiondigital.com