Who's In Charge Here?
Have you ever worked with a committee? I mean as a business, have you ever worked with a client "committee"? It's usually a group of people that have either volunteered for the project because it sounded like fun, or a group of people that have been assigned to serve on the committee because, well, they had time. It really doesn't matter how it happens, committees tend to be the devil's spawn no matter how they're formed. In a studio situation, we usually plan on doubling the project time when there's a committee involved, simply because each committee member feels that it's important to interject their opinion, important or not, informed or not, relevant or not.
Mike Meacham's favorite definition is: "A committee is a culdesac, down which good ideas are lured and quietly strangled". The only reason I bring this up is because I'm serving on a committee right now. It's a volunteer committee to help in the marketing of our small Iowa city. Early on, I mentioned that our most important task was to choose an advertising agency. Once that was done, the best thing we could do was disband and get out of their way. Honest, I said that very thing in one of our early meetings, probably a year ago. Everyone nodded and I, obviously mistakenly, thought that meant agreement.
Now, we've chosen an advertising agency and the process is underway and I'll be darned if the committee isn't still meeting. And yes, everyone has begun to second guess everything the agency has done and is complaining that they're not involved enough. So...the committee has become the committee I feared it would. Maybe that's just the nature of the beast, no matter what. Just like a kitten becomes a cat, a puppy becomes a dog, involved citizens become politicians, a committee just has to keep meeting and meeting and meeting long after its usefullness has ended. And that just guarantees that the process, no matter what it is, will take twice as long.
What do you think? Am I just becoming a cynical bitter guy, or do people let "being on a committee" just go to their heads? Hey, I'm more than willing to admit that I could just be totally wrong. But I'm guessing otherwise. Thanks for reading and we'll leave the mic on for ya.
Mike Meacham's favorite definition is: "A committee is a culdesac, down which good ideas are lured and quietly strangled". The only reason I bring this up is because I'm serving on a committee right now. It's a volunteer committee to help in the marketing of our small Iowa city. Early on, I mentioned that our most important task was to choose an advertising agency. Once that was done, the best thing we could do was disband and get out of their way. Honest, I said that very thing in one of our early meetings, probably a year ago. Everyone nodded and I, obviously mistakenly, thought that meant agreement.
Now, we've chosen an advertising agency and the process is underway and I'll be darned if the committee isn't still meeting. And yes, everyone has begun to second guess everything the agency has done and is complaining that they're not involved enough. So...the committee has become the committee I feared it would. Maybe that's just the nature of the beast, no matter what. Just like a kitten becomes a cat, a puppy becomes a dog, involved citizens become politicians, a committee just has to keep meeting and meeting and meeting long after its usefullness has ended. And that just guarantees that the process, no matter what it is, will take twice as long.
What do you think? Am I just becoming a cynical bitter guy, or do people let "being on a committee" just go to their heads? Hey, I'm more than willing to admit that I could just be totally wrong. But I'm guessing otherwise. Thanks for reading and we'll leave the mic on for ya.
2 Comments:
<$BlogCommentBody$>
Post a Comment
<< Home