On 4 Weeks in Boston
4 weeks with Arnold Worldwide comes to a close with the US literally and figuratively turning on the lights for the holiday season. I wouldn't have thought it long enough, no matter how long I had spent in Boston. I can’t thank Sean Will and his team at Arnold enough for the welcome they gave me.
Instead of lengthy self-congratulatory reflection, I wanted to speed round final observations and notes from my time in MA.
Fei’s World
Someone I learnt from whilst at Arnold — and will continue to communicate with beyond my 4 weeks Havas Lofts placement — was Fei Wu, senior digital producer. Fei’s control of project flow and process is immensely enviable, and she is one of the most impressive people I've worked with in a while. I also had great discussions about her podcast Fei’s World; wherein she interviews smart minds on a wealth of topics.
Motivation to Build
I build things all the time. Web apps, websites, installed applications; if I think it will make my work smarter, faster or better I’ll build it. Finding motivation to do this in an environment like an ad agency, where automation and in-house toolsets aren't really in the DNA of the business, is an uphill battle. You take small victories.
Being at Arnold has re-energised me to come back and double my building efforts. A Havas London edition of Arnold’s fabulous interactive office map seems like low hanging fruit that could be built in relatively short order.
Measurement
My (limited) understanding of numbers comes from sports. I learn by engaging in what interests me, and the work of Zach Lowe or Bill Barnwell in sports analytics has made me think about how I compare things and reach conclusions. I recognise that’s a very wide-shooting sentence; it doesn't really say anything. Let me rephrase.
You’re trying to gauge the value of work you've done. You can only understand the value of it with context; comparison to other work you've completed, industry benchmarks, the value of not doing the work at all. This introduction of context is so often missing from how we try and understand performance or measure success, yet in smarter fields like sports WAR (wins above replacement) and ON / OFF are fundamental staples of our understanding.
Irrelevant sidebar: whilst I was in Boston, the Celtics ascended to the number one defense in the association on the back of the top ranked turnover %.
I will take from Boston an acute understanding of what context-led analysis looks like. The limited but rewarding time I spent with Arnold’s search team will stay with me.
