We called it Notes Day, and I see it as a stellar example of how to set the table for creativity. Managers of creative companies must never forget to ask themselves: How do we tap the brainpower of ou...
WHAT IS IT, exactly, that people are really afraid of when they say they don’t like change? There is the discomfort of being confused or the extra work or stress the change may require. For many peopl...
Unleashing creativity requires that we loosen the controls, accept risk, trust our colleagues, work to clear the path for them, and pay attention to anything that creates fear.
Unleashing creativity requires that we loosen the controls, accept risk, trust our colleagues, work to clear the path for them, and pay attention to anything that creates fear. Doing all these things...
Una de las tradiciones anuales de la empresa es la Pixarpalooza, un macrofestival en el que nuestras propias bandas de rock luchan por la primacía dejándose el alma en los escenarios que erigimos en e...
The Z-buffer accomplished that by assigning a depth to every object in three-dimensional space, then telling the computer to match each of the screen’s pixels to whatever object was the closest.
Sometimes you talk about the problems in fifty different ways until you find that one sentence that you can see makes their eyes pop, as if they’re thinking, ‘Oh, I want to do it.
People who take on complicated creative projects become lost at some point in the process. It is the nature of things—in order to create, you must internalize and almost become the project for a while...
Mistakes aren’t a necessary evil. They aren’t evil at all. They are an inevitable consequence of doing something new
John coined a new phrase: Quality is the best business plan. What he meant was that quality is not a consequence of following some set of behaviors. Rather, it is a prerequisite and a mindset you must...
In the intervening years, George has said that he hired me because of my honesty, my clarity of vision, and my steadfast belief in what computers could do. Not long after we met, he offered me the job...
If I start on a film and right away know the structure—where it’s going, the plot—I don’t trust it, Pete says. I feel like the only reason we’re able to find some of these unique ideas, characters, an...
I WANT TO end this list by talking a little more about the founding of Pixar University and Elyse Klaidman’s mind-expanding drawing classes in particular. Those first classes were such a success—of th...
Frequently, the people in charge of the Beast are the most organized people in the company—people wired to make things happen on track and on budget, as their bosses expect them to do. When those peop...
Even the smartest people can form an ineffective team if they are mismatched. That means it is better to focus on how a team is performing, not on the talents of the individuals within it.
Ese fue mi primer encuentro con un fenómeno que iba a comprobar una y otra vez a lo largo de mi carrera: por más cuidado que pongas en lo artístico, la elegancia visual carece de importancia si estás...
Don’t Let Resentments Fester Many things that go wrong are caused by misunderstandings or screw-ups. These lead to resentments that, if left unaddressed, can fester for years. But if people are given...
Believe me, you don’t want to be at a company where there is more candor in the hallways than in the rooms where fundamental ideas or matters of policy are being hashed out.
And in notes meetings, everyone was so afraid of hurting someone’s feelings that they held back. We had to learn that we weren’t attacking the person, we were attacking the project. Only then could we...
A lively debate in a Braintrust meeting is not being waged in the hopes of any one person winning the day. To the extent there is argument, it seeks only to excavate the truth.