Creativity, Inc.

Rich in wisdom and deeply humanistic, Pixar co-founder Ed Catmull is a life-long student of what makes organisations ‘work', and this book is an absolute treasure trove of insights and learnings. Aside from that it's a fascinating behind-the-scenes account that goes a very long way to explain how Pixar so consistently makes such brilliant films. Essential reading for anyone interested in management and innovation.

Very good retrospective on Pixar, with a lot of great advice on management and creativity. Sometimes gets a little too much into the “and then we solved it, aren't we great” side of things, but that's really just a minor quibble. The afterword, on working with Steve Jobs, is better than the entire Steve Jobs authorized biography.

I find rating a book like this difficult because a lot of the opinions expressed in it around how to foster an effective working environment are already practiced at my work place, so I find myself without a lot of new ideas coming out of it. I'm not sure if these things were as widely adopted six years ago when they were written, but they certainly are now.

The book is well written and charming though, and provides some neat insights to the process at Pixar over the years (though again there are a few stories I had already known, perhaps just from other sources referencing this book).

The full title for this one is “Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration”. Hearing the title and knowing it was written by Ed Catmull, one of the cofounders of Pixar, was enough to draw me in. As someone who works in technology, but also leans towards ways of managing projects, this one hit on a long list of points that were relavant to working at Code School. Although on a completely different level, the way Pixar puts out pictures each year with multiple teams and different departments is similar to Code Schools monthly course structure. Page after page I saw problems that were familiar to me, and how they solved them at Pixar.

The full title for this one is “Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration”. Hearing the title and knowing it was written by Ed Catmull, one of the cofounders of Pixar, was enough to draw me in. As someone who works in technology, but also leans towards ways of managing projects, this one hit on a long list of points that were relavant to working at Code School. Although on a completely different level, the way Pixar puts out pictures each year with multiple teams and different departments is similar to Code Schools monthly course structure. Page after page I saw problems that were familiar to me, and how they solved them at Pixar.

Even though people mention the book constantly, I've delayed it for some reason (probably I'm not into animation). But what a mistake that was!

Animation, Pixar's and Ed's history were used as a narrative to showcase different aspects of defining your company's culture. The great thing is the first hand experience, rather than the typical “a study says”. It feels extremely humane, more over with the constant reminding of what went wrong. People often praise their achievements, but rarely talk about failures.

A must reads for anyone who's into company culture, leading teams, managing leaders/projects/products, and even more needed for company owners. Would be helpful for the most “regular” person, looking for ways to make is work environment better.

Favourite quote: “Balance is more important than stability”

I really liked this one. Helped me see from other perspectives and how to reinvent ideas. I could relate to almost every topic within this book and loved how they touched on each topic. Definitely recommend for the creatives out there whether its authors, graphic designers, game designers, app developers and web developers.

Už chápu, proč v knižním nakladatelství Melvil neplánují vydat tuto knihu. Kdyby ji totiž vydali, tak můžou rovnou zrušit jejich edici “Žádná velká věda”. V této knize Eda Catmulla je totiž všechno, co potřebujete vědět. Zjistíte, co se skrývá za virálním úspěchem (Hitmakeři); zjistíte, řešit velké problémy a jak si ověřit správnost vašich myšlenek (Sprint); zjistíte, jak dosáhnout spokojeného života (Designérem vlastního života); zjistíte, že si mnohdy musíte stát za svým a dokážete tak přesvědčit i Steva Jobse (Nikdy nedělej kompromis); zjistíte, proč některé týmy drží pohromadě a jiné se rozpadají (Lídři jedí poslední); zjistíte, že ptát se je velmi důležité (Začněte s proč); a zjistíte toho mnohem více.
V této knize opravdu najdete spoustu zajímavých postřehů, které jsou začleněny ve skutečných příbězích ze života Edwina Catmulla - prezidenta studia Pixar a Disney Animation.
Já jsem dlouho čekal na okamžik, kdy tato kniha vyjde v češtině. Slavila totiž úspěch po celém světě a spoustu úspěšných lidí ji doporučuje jako must-read. Jenže po dvou letech čekání mi došlo, že se nedočkám. Tak jsem si ji pořídil v originále. Už od samotného začátku mě chytla a já se těšil na každou další kapitolu. Během čtení mějte u sebe i zvýrazňovač, protože tam najdete tolik zajímavých postřehů, které stojí za to si zapamatovat a zkusit je aplikovat ve svém vlastním životě. Kdyby alespoň z části se někteří kreativní ředitelé reklamních agentur v Čechách inspirovali a zavedli něco z toho, co navrhuje Ed Catmull, tak v reklamě bude chtít pracovat každý a hlavně budou vznikat kreativnější kampaně a nápady (zejména kapitola o výzkumu by je o tom mohla přesvědčit). Takže můj závěr je ten, že knihu doporučuji všem, kteří pracují v kreativním oboru i mimo něj. Kniha je velmi inspirující a dokáže vás přesvědčit, že každý z nás může mít radost z práce.