Most of the time, we’re muzzled. As workers, employees, and business owners, we smile and nod in rhythm with our cursors, and taste blood on our tongues as we bite them furiously. People and projects stress us out. Others’ expectations keep us quiet. Most of the time, we don’t have a voice to unleash our frustrations. Well, we’re changing that. In this issue, we break out the talking stick, hand over the talking pillow, and roll out the soapbox, giving our authors a chance to smash and break open their ideas loudly and without apology. We need to talk, and sometimes you just need to listen. Are you ready for this issue? Just nod.
Melanie Jones. Writer, director, creator, and briefly, future mother. Mel scrapes open the reality of creating during a time of loss as she bares her own scars: three miscarriages that occur as she writes, directs, and stars in her most recent NYC show (occurring at the same time this article’s creation). This gorgeous catastrophe is a testament to the bravery that keeps us alive at work while everything around us falls apart.
Our pal, Brett Harned opens with a delicious rant about the frustrations of being a digital PM in a breakneck world of project and client fallout in his article, A career of frustrations. He digs deep into the strategies he uses to deal with the stress of multitasking, and enlists the humour of fellow digital PMs to answer the question: What annoys you the most? Hint: it’s not Gantt charts.
We love Diane Hyunh’s stripped down approach with her clients. In Get naked, she undresses the fallacy of a know-it-all attitude in favour of the vulnerability she develops with clients through active listening and silencing her ‘Bitchy Diane’ alter ego. Expect to shed some of your own assumptions during this provocative read.
What better way to fatten up our industry’s resources than to have smart documentation about the tools and apps we use to manage our day-to-day. Our latest writer, Douglas Maitland, outlines the victories and failures of a popular bug tracking tool called BugHerd in his debut article, The BugHerd remedy. To really get at its guts, he pulls its features apart like taffy and applies BugHerd to actual projects to see how it holds up under pressure. The verdict? You’ll have to read it to find out.
This spring, let the content rain down upon you. We’ve got a smart list of authors and hilarious content lined up for our next issue, Out of order. Want a taste of the uproar? View the first developing article in the sequence as a subscription holder: Sign in and check out AdSubculture writer and consultant, Ed Burgoyne’s uproarious article.
It’s time. Sink into the arms of We need to talk and enjoy the issue.
