In-house Agency: An Oxymoron?
I often hear in-house team leaders proudly assert that their goal for their department is to become a true agency model organization (if they’re not already asserting they are one). In many respects...
View ArticleThis Old In-house: To Smee or Not to Smee
Smees or SMEs, aka Subject Matter Experts, are formally designated roles in a creative organization that can be established to provide an alternate career path for individuals on your team ill suited...
View ArticleThis Old In-house: QAT is Where It’s At
SLAs, OLAs, SOPs, SOWs, mission statements, vision statements, goals/strategies/tactics; with all the well intentioned attempts to focus and align your and your team’s efforts with your department’s...
View ArticleIn-house Issues: The Value of Good Judgment
You can possess all the institutional and functional knowledge possible in your industry or creative discipline and still fail miserably in the politically and emotionally charged world of in-house....
View ArticleIn-house Incites: Design Management Say What?!
AIGA MetroNorth, in partnership with Shintaro Akatsu School of Design (SASD), is hosting an evening event on design management. But what exactly is design management? If you look at the panelists, the...
View ArticleThis Old In-house: Beware of Creeps
You and your team executed on the project initiation phase flawlessly. You hammered out a creative brief and SOW with the client, held a focused kick-off meeting with the team and began execution of...
View ArticleEstablish Client Facing Practices or Face the Music
Most in-house teams don’t have a client facing account management team. Their middle management layer is often so thin that that group is unable to always effectively manage client relations. And even...
View ArticleIn-house Incites: Beware of the 2 for 1 Position Paradigm
Creative Director "The Creative Director (CD) understands how to conceive, structure and develop creative and branding strategies and is highly capable and experienced in managing and leading the...
View ArticleWhat’s In A Name?
I was speaking recently with a friend and colleague who heads up a creative team at an online services company. She was discussing her battle with HR to have her title changed to include Director....
View ArticleMultitasking: Misnomer and Myth
In a recent New York Times Op Ed piece, Bob Sullivan and Hugh Thompson, journalist and computer scientist respectively, reveal one of the most pervasive workplace myths that constantly sets in-house...
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