Field Notes Inside an Integrated Communications Agency

A year from now you will wish you had started today.

Cannot recall who said this. But it is inspiring.

Many presenters at Flashforward this year urged fearless experimentation and the courage to risk failure. Being bold, trying new things, and trusting your own instinct seemed a common theme. David Carson said that if you are not failing then you aren't pushing yourself hard enough. And Miha Pogacnik said that "the creative process leaves a trail of blood."

Transforming work into play and finding joy in your work seemed another common theme. Craig Swann suggested that we think about work as play and urged us to believe that R&D = R&R. Danny Stillion of IDEO suggest that we "fail often to succeed sooner. And we were reminded of Tal Ben-Shahar's idea that Happiness = Pleasure + Purpose.

Stacey Mulcahy gave some advice on how to unleash the creative potential of developers and the dangers of bad process. "Bad project process limits developers to implementation. Good project process enables developers to innovate and contribute. Meaningful innovation requires a good environment. Meaningful innovation is a competitive edge." I couldn't agree more. All too often coders get relegated to implementation.

The last idea that bubbled up several times was the cold, hard fact that the only way to be great at Flash is to bust your ass doing it. Call it work or call it play - doesn't matter. The only way to become great at what you do is to spend time doing it. You can stand on the shoulders of giants, but becoming a giant yourself requires passion, relentless experimentation and inspiration.