Case Study: Efficiency @ TheFilmSchool – Part One

The bottom line with efficiency is, well, the bottom line. How do you get the best value out of your work? There are a wealth of options when it comes to free or premium versions of the tools that make your life easier.

In part one of this post, we’re going to take a look at some of the ways we were able to get things done better, faster, and cheaper, including

File Management
Task Management
Remote Training

File Management

TheFilmSchool uses Google Drive and Dropbox for sharing files that need to be shared. Google Drive is free, of course, but tricky to organize and susceptible to files disappearing. That can be a huge headache and a real time waster when you spend half an hour searching for a file that isn’t there anymore. The upside to Google Drive is that it is free. We are able to distribute key documents to interns through Google Drive and it doesn’t cost a dime. Make sure to back up the important stuff though. For really important documents, Dropbox is worth the monthly fee.

Task Management

Managing your own workflow is insanely important when it comes to efficiency. I have too much to do to be able to remember to do it all without help. Thank goodness for the nugget of extended cognition known as Basecamp.

I’m a huge fan of Basecamp, and most folks that have used it keep doing so. Basecamp lets me assign my interns tasks and get regular updates on their progress. I also use it to schedule my own workflow. I have run into trouble assigning an intern or myself a task that is just too overwhelming to consider finished at any given point, so remember to break tasks up into manageable chunks. There are different price points for Basecamp, all fairly reasonable depending on the volume of projects you have to manage.

Remote Training

Because Nate is in Chico and I don’t know how to do everything (yet) remote training is a lot more efficient than a road trip. Skype used to be the go to resource for remote training, but these days a hangout on Google+ has the same features for zero dollars. Google+ for the win.

We’ll be back with part two soon, folks.  If you have a question about being more efficient, leave it in the comments.