u/star_gates

I work at a medium-sized company. In recent years, our client base has grown, and the number of projects has increased significantly. We’ve already completed over 12,000 projects. At the same time, there are only 7 of us working in graphic design, including myself. We have roughly the same number of people handling client relations.

For quite some time now, we’ve been struggling with a serious problem at the company. How do we keep track of such a large number of files and projects?

The project managers have their own system for tracking projects. It’s not very smart, but… each project is simply labeled with a number. Years ago, some total idiot (I’m betting it was my boss) came up with the idea that we’d adopt the same rule for our file system. Thanks to this, those lazy bums (the project managers) will have easy access to files - for example, if a client writes to them about project No. 12345, they go to the file server, find folder No. 12345, and download preview files from it.

If you’re still reading this post, you already know that this approach is a disaster. Why?

• We do a lot of repetitive tasks. For example, a graphic designer creates a key visual, it gets invoiced, and the project gets closed. A month later, the client asks to turn that key visual into a poster - so a new project and a new folder are created. A month after that, we turn that key visual into something else entirely. So, in reality, a single project can exist across multiple folders.
• We design a lot of packaging. Clients sometimes update this packaging over the course of several years. Such packaging might be updated twice a year. Imagine having a line of 30-40 packaging designs that all have to be consistent with each other. Keeping this mess under control is a nightmare.
• ...and multiple other problems.

For quite some time now, I’ve been trying to convince my boss to implement some kind of revolution in managing this chaos. I’ve read a bit about DAM systems, but they seem like a ridiculously expensive investment. Is there another way to solve this problem? How does it work in your case? Is it possible to balance the needs of project managers with those of graphic designers?

Czasami trzeba wiedzieć, kiedy lepiej nic nie mówić.

Od najmlodszych lat nie interesowalo mnie konkurowanie w czymkolwiek i z kimkolwiek. Ojciec, zapalony sportowiec, probowal mi w pewnym momencie wpoic takie rzeczy, ale szybko sie poddal.

Wiec przez cale zycie szedlem wlasciwie unikajac walki, konkurowania. W syruscjach towarzyskich, np. planszowki, przewaznie bylem najgorszy, bo jedyna motywacjs bylo to, aby spedzic z kims czas, a nie wygrac. Sytuacje, w ktorych ludzie dostawali furii, bo przegrali byly dla mnie abstrakcja. A spotykalem ludzi, ktorzy byli chorobliwie ambitni w tym temacie i potrafili rozpamietywac rzeczy bez znaczenia latami.

No i teraz ta historia Chwalinskiej... Troche sklonila mnie do refleksji. Moze to bylo zle...?

Dzisiaj uprawiam sport, ale robie to tylko dla rekreacji. Lubie doskonalic technike, ale nie mysle o jakiejs walce innymi czy nawet soba. I obserwuje ludzi znacznie mlodszych od siebie, a takze to, ze taki gen rywalizacji bardzo pozytywnie wplywa na rozwoj czlowieka. Troche zazdroszcze, ze nie potoczylo sie to inaczej, bo jaki jest dzisiaj swiat i kto w nim osiaga sukcesy, to chyba wszyscy wiemy.

A jak tam u was?