Ed Catmull

6:44
Ed Catmull, Pixar-Disney President, on building a sustainable culture
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVnhdEW3GC0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVnhdEW3GC0
This Week In Startups
Published on Aug 17, 2016

8:38
Video Review for Creativity Inc by Ed Catmull
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJi1_YGYvOM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJi1_YGYvOM
Callibrain
Published on Sep 30, 2015


27:41
This is what makes Pixar so successful according to Ed Catmull | Fortune
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMMKWVIUqm8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMMKWVIUqm8
Fortune Magazine
Published on Jul 17, 2015

principle of the brain trust
1. no one could override the director
   basically, we removed the power structure from the room
   it's easier said than done, because people will sometimes defer to the power structure
   the reason we removed the power structure, because they will enter the room in a defensive posture, and that will make so that they don't listen
2. peer-to-peer
   film-maker talking to film-maker (not boss talking to employee)
3. they all share in each other success
4. give and take honest note (candor)


59:30
Ed Catmull: Creativity, Inc. [Entire Talk]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffixfwt654I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffixfwt654I
Stanford eCorner
Published on May 5, 2014

36:30
so our view as the managers was not to actually examine the idea at the time, it was to sit back and examine the dynamics of the room.
because if the dynamics are working, they are going to solve the problem.
so rather than me get caught up in a problem, I wanted to look and see if they are all saying what they think?

39:17
so we determined to turn them around.
so we worked with them, we taught the principles, it took a while.
the fact is all the stuff sounds good, but like a lot of things that sound good they depend upon trust, and trust is something that takes a while to earn.
and usually what it means is, you have to go through some screw ups together and some failures and mess ups, and then still be there for each other.
and when you are there for each other, you really begin to trust each other, then begin to apply the principles.

42:21
that is, just seeing how it worked altered their behavior.

44:36
you can see how well the team is working together, but you can't judge the ideas.

46:13
so then the question is okay, could I have said anything to myself
at 20 years - when I was 20 years - that would have made a difference.
and honest to god, I don't know.

47:22
and kind of missing the deeper point is that sometimes those things that are true don't actually alter our behavior.

49:00
in some cases, they were correct and they are no longer correct.


([ I got a lot out of this ])
39:36
Ed Catmull, President, Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2xVHRtidH0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2xVHRtidH0
Berkeley Haas
Streamed live on Mar 19, 2015

03:53
04:58  
first order conclusion
08:17
it became quickly artistically bankrupt, because they kept repeating the same model, over and over, again
12:45
the only thing they have done is to change the name, but other than that, there's no change in behavior
14:39
that's the key concept is you have to make it safe for them to listen
15:39
once they get to know each other, they learn how to ignore each other's notes

19:11   it took two years for them to become good
19:18   and then took another two years for them
19:21   to become great, now after the two years
19:27   when they became good
19:28   I knew they were missing something that
19:30   we had at Pixar they didn't have and I
19:32   did not know how to replace that; when
19:36   they became great two years later I
19:38   didn't know why, I could look around the
19:40   room a sec here this room is great they
19:43   have a different personality, I don't
19:45   know what the missing element was and
19:48   I'll come back to that

23:37
the permission to make it safe to fail though have to come from the top, unless the top allows it, they won't do it

30:12
there are subtle and difficult forces at work all the time that we can't see and our job is to look for them

36:54
we realized we now have two groups that speak the same language, they know what it means to give notes to each other at that phase of time, they respect each other, and they have fresh eyes; and we can probably only do this once per film
38:07   this notion of that - first order
38:09   conclusion - if you're successful 
        you must be doing stuff that's right,  
38:12   well what it's doing is
38:15   hiding problems, and so what we're 
38:17   finding is there (their?) new problem surfacing
38:19   because of the success, because the
38:22   assumptions which causes the groups to
38:25   become more conservative and it's a very
38:29   fascinating process to watch


9:36
Ed Catmull on encouraging and enforcing a creative process
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob9WbAmTcrA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ob9WbAmTcrA
INBOUND
Published on Nov 14, 2017

53:46
E665: Ed Catmull, Pixar-Disney & Creativity, Inc: on pioneering computer animation, Lucas, Jobs -PT1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jpANsucUGc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jpANsucUGc
This Week In Startups
Published on Aug 12, 2016


54:10
Ed Catmull, Pixar: Keep Your Crises Small
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2h2lvhzMDc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2h2lvhzMDc
Stanford Graduate School of Business
Published on Jul 28, 2009

 I want to start off with two questions
   why do successful companies fail?
   our central problem is not finding good people, it's finding good ideas

03:22  our central problem
03:25  is not finding good people, it's finding
03:28  good ideas

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=289
04:49   there were always problems; people felt
04:51   comfortable about coming in and
04:53   expressing the problems, we couldn't fix
04:55   every problem, but it's important to hear
04:57   them; the other thing we had was

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=524
08:44   coming out with them and we're very
08:46   aware there's a second product syndrome
08:48   where you kind of overdo in the second
08:50   one and you
08:50   and you blow it so we got somebody
https://nomorestartupmyths.com/second-product-syndrome-new-entrepreneurs-fall-victim/

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=631
        that
10:34   whole notion of controlling that
10:36   information flow pissed everybody off,
10:41   and yet there was a feeling he had to
10:43   maintain control, the key concept we
10:45   realized at that time was that we had
10:47   confused the organizational structure
10:49   with the communication structure, very
10:52   common thing that happens a lot of
10:54   companies; they are different; yes, you
10:57   must be organized; things must happen in
10:59   order; you can lose control, but
11:03   communication needs to be able to happen
11:05   between anybody in the company, at
11:08   anytime; it really is its peer-to-peer

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=737
12:13   the other question which was the
12:17   difficult one for me was why had I
12:19   missed this problem 

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=759
12:35   new people that came into an existing
12:38   structure, they accepted it, they were
12:40   used to reporting to producers, and if
12:48   you didn't like it, we only had a job for
12:50   four months, and just put up with it;
12:51   you'd move on, so there was no reason
12:54   for them the complaint; just put up with it

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=802
13:22   fundamental problems I think with
13:25   companies and that is that “success hides
13:28   problems”. it happens to a lot of us in
it happens to a lot of us in our personal lives
with our health.
when we're healthy, there may be a lot of things that
are bad for us, but our health lets us get away with
doing stuff that's bad for us.
then years later, the logic of that time doesn't hold up,
but we do that.
it happens with a lot of companies.
it happens with state, local, and national governments.
when you're healthy, and you've got the resources,
you don't need to address the problems.
they were actually very healthy, and they're
very strong.
and the problems were there, but they don't have to look
at them at that time, because they let the success
they let that get in the way of diving deep, and
finding the problems.

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=844
14:04   the problems were there
14:06   but they didn't have to look at them at
14:07   that time, they let the success and they
14:10   were successful that time they let that
14:12   get in the way of diving deep and
14:14   defining the problems; so even though I
14:18   was kind of aware of this problem, I been
14:20   caught by it, too; so just being aware of
14:22   it wasn't enough; so that the next

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=1307
21:47   so I come back to the
21:53   first question, which is more important
21:55   the or what's the central problem,
21:58   finding good ideas or finding good
22:00   people; and the answer is very clear: the
22:03   idea was the same, if you have a good
22:06   idea and you give it to mediocre group
22:08   they'll screw it up; if you give a
22:11   mediocre idea to a good group, they'll
22:13   fix it or they'll throw it away, and come
22:15   up with something else

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=1349
22:29   we think about ideas
22:31   for products, and it's usually thought of
22:33   as some singular thing; but the reality
22:36   is these successful movies as well
22:37   successful products have got thousands
22:40   of ideas; there's all sorts of things
22:42   necessary to make it be successful, and
22:44   you have to get most of them right to do
22:48   it, and that's why you need a team that
22:50   works well together

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=1393
23:13   the goal of development is not to
23:18   find good ideas; it's to put together
23:20   teams of people that function well together

23:27   and to this day this development
23:29   department is loved by the directors,
23:31   because it's a support group; it's not
23:33   something telling them what to do; it's
23:34   not a gate; it's a support group

24:45   that 2d animation in this country was
24:49   actually shut down. cause they thought
24:50   the audience lost the taste for 2d, and
24:52   just wanted 3d; it's all nonsense; it had
24:55   nothing to do with the technology; it had to
24:57   do with the story

25:31   there are thousands of movies out there;
25:32   they're actually great idea, but they're
25:33   poorly executed; they should be remaking
25:35   bad movies. or as it happens with product,  
25:39   the ones that do better aren't
25:40   those and just copy somebody else's good
25:42   product. they actually take the thing
25:43   that's going wrong and fix that

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=1551
25:51   they could
25:52   copy the technology, but they couldn't
25:55   copy the process we were used to come up
25:58   with a story

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=1575
26:15   so we instituted a process of doing post
26:20   mortems after every movie, trying to do a
26:22   deep analysis. the first post mortems
26:24   were very successful. we worked very hard
26:27   to make sure people were safe. they
26:29   didn't get shot for pointing out
26:30   problems. and everybody got a lot out of
26:34   them. they valued them greatly. 

26:36   so we're off to a good start, but then it
26:39   go on to the next post-mortem. people
26:42   began to game the system. 

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=1650
27:30   so we what we found is we have to
27:33   change the way we do the post-mortems
27:35   every single film. because the next film
27:38   they'll game it. but if we can change it
27:40   in the right way, then it will work.

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=1718
28:38   so let me summarize a few things we've
28:41   learned: one is the constant review.
28:44   second is it must be safe for people to
28:46   tell the truth.
28:48   third is the communication should not
28:51   mirror the organizational hierarchy.
28:54   people and how they function is more
28:57   important than ideas, and do not let
28:59   success mask problems. do a deep assessment.

29:53   everybody says the stories the
29:57   most important thing, even if the story
29:59   was drivel; it might be true that it is
30:05   true, but it doesn't affect behavior.

32:42   the phrase is important in this
32:45   community it just doesn't have any
32:46   effect on behavior. 

32:48   once one can
32:54   articulate an important idea into a
32:57   concise statement, then one can use this
33:01   statement, and not have to have the fear
33:02   of changing behavior.
        I just I see this over and over again.

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=2034
we're always missing something that is important
So let me return to the first question.
   why do successful companies fail?

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=2069
The falling takes place slow, but the collapse is quick.
 You have to do constant assessment.
 You have to look for the hard truth.

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=2086
I think the curse is on the people that don't listen, right?
We have to be the ones who are looking for it all the time.
and when we hear things, evaluate it, “Is it right?”

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=2101
35:01   but there are two fundamental kinds of
35:02   crises. one is that you don't like what
35:07   you see. so you have to make changes. now
35:11   the fact that you make changes is is not
35:13   in and of itself a crisis. that's just
35:15   hard work. what makes a crisis is there a
35:18   lot of people with a vested interest and
35:20   with positions. and you've got to
35:22   actually rearrange things, and it's and
35:24   it's people butting up against each
35:26   other. and that's a hard thing to do. it's
35:28   an emotional thing to do.
35:30   but you do that, and you end up making a
35:33   better film.

https://youtu.be/k2h2lvhzMDc?t=2380
39:41   Ghana who's he was brilliant, and he is
39:44   extremely good at getting taking facts,
39:48   in teasing out important information, and
39:50   you present that important information,
39:52   really concise ways, and just it's things
39:54   that people didn't see before.
39:55   so the fact they see that means they
39:58   want to participate.