Strategic SCA’ing 

This week Uri (pronounced oorr-iii) delivered his first masterclass on strategy and strategic thinking which sparked my interest in developing an effective strategy to help navigate this year at SCA. Uri formulated the three stages in any process regarding the successful implementation of an idea as follows:

OBJECTIVE —— MEANS ——- END

Or in a more fleshed out formulation

Diagnosis of the challenge—–guiding policy to deal with it ——coherent actions to execute the policy 

Through the lens of this model I thought about examining my coming year at SCA and indulge in some pretentious self-reflection that is oh so accepted in the world of SCABs.

OBJECTIVE:

The most self-explanatory part of the process, my most prominent objective which is also the most tangible is undoubtedly to secure a placement or Job at a respected agency by the end of this 10 months. A realistic yet challenging objective, however in fitting with the theme of pretentious self-reflection I would see that as a more concrete goal which runs concurrently to a more abstract and less obvious objective. That being to refine my creative abilities and hone them in such a way as to always be on the cusp of producing something interesting or great. I know, it is very airy fairy when written down but I hope you get the gist.

MEANS:

Luckily at SCA there are a plethora of accessible and useful means at our disposal to help us work on our creative skills and hopefully help me realise my two objectives this year. The most obvious of which being the readily available wisdom of mentors at the school. There are so many different gurus each possessing invaluable kernels of knowledge and guidance that it would be near on impossible to not leave without having filled 5 moleskins full of lessons. They seem to be omnipresent in the studio and always around the corner, every time I take a D&AD annual out of the bookshelf another mentor falls out and asks if I want a quick chat. Despite the paid mentors at SCA I feel like the most useful means that I have utilised so far has been the help and guidance of the rest of the cohort. Everyone (so far) has been more than happy to help with ongoing briefs and offer their constructive opinions on your work, creating a lovely atmosphere around the studio on brief days. This I feel will become ever more useful as the work piles up and the deadlines come thick and fast.

END:

The execution side of the process is less clear to me now as it is still only week 4, however I feel that it will come in due time. The idea of a fully composed portfolio with brilliant work spilling out of it seems far away from the scamps I was producing last week. Although this aspect of the strategic process is one to be concerned with at a later date as it is so far removed from what I am doing now. Regardless the other two facets of the above process are much more pressing so I should get back to those now. I just found a mentor in the fridge so I have a quick chat with him scheduled, better get to it!