"We tell ourselves that we need the right setup before we finally buckle down and get serious. Or we tell ourselves that some vacation or time alone will be good for a relationship or an ailment. That is self-deceit at its finest. It’s far better to become pragmatic and adaptable—able to do what we need to do anywhere, anytime. The place to do your work, to live the good life, is here."
Read MoreThe Bible for Creatives
The War of Art is my personal bible. It saved me and my career more than once.
Steven Pressfield work is a philosophy book and a guide. It explores why people in general, and creative especially postpone tasks and procrastinate. He also gives the reader tools to deal with procrastination.
Procrastination is an addiction. It’s not something you can solve, it’s something you need to battle constantly. You need to fight it everyday and never let your guard down. The Art of War is the tool to win this constant war.
As product managers you owe yourself to read this book. It won’t only help you with your own work. It will help you help the designers and engineers you work with.
How to build a creative culture in your company
To create a creative culture, you need to have the infrastructure for it. This needs to be a top to bottom commitment. Creating a creative culture means aligning all the functions to the ideals. It means making sure the values of the company reflect it. This means the whole organizational structure has to support it.
...
A company should create an environment that nurtures cooperation. It should remember that creative people, who core responsibility is to develop successful products, need freedom to act.
Manegment nurtures creativity by their actions. It is also nurtured through an environment that allows the right people to interact and act. A nurturing environment is more than colorful walls and action figures. It has to start with the physical design of the spaces the people are going to work in. When the design of the workplace is done right, it creates intersectional thinking, and a creative culture can emerge.
Read More
Ed Catmull, Creativity Inc. Talks
Ed Cutmull is the president of Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios. His book on management and creativity, or perhaps the management of creative people and creative processes, is probably the best book you can read on the topic.
Read More