Ask Adam Savage: One Thing That Made ILM Exceptional as a Workplace
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- čas přidán 22. 12. 2022
- Was there a set of personality traits, processes and skillsets common to most folks who worked at ILM? Adam answers these ILM-related questions from Randy DePasquale and Ryan Massey, whom we thank for their support! Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks, like asking Adam questions or watching exclusive videos: / @tested
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#AdamSavage #ILM - Věda a technologie
I've been with my current employer for 23 years, my first supervisor at a remote weather station told me his job was to stand between us and managers above him. I always appreciated that and took it on board. Now that I supervise a small team of 5 I feel like that's the most important part of my job. So, 100% agree with the "no punching down" philosophy, it makes for a much better workplace.
There are far more important things to do as a supervisor than buffer against management. That doesn’t sound like a great work place if you find that to be so primary.
@@jomnres2 Upper management doesn't always know how the work gets done; what matters is to have a clear understanding of what needs done and how to get there. If the guy upstairs walks into a shop floor and tells a machine operator to turn the piece sideways, but that would ruin the piece, that's interference not wisdom. This scenario can be generalized to include work which is heavily mental like software or model design: if what the boss says would turn the work sideways but accomplish nothing, that's interference.
Thus a supervisor has to translate guidance from above and feedback from below.
In other words, communication (and thus buffering one side from the other) is one of the most important things a supervisor does, sometimes more important than scheduling and budget, or the work can't get done.
I spent the last 15 years of my career as the director of a large flight test organization. My number 1 job was to ensure all of the “overhead” from above stopped with me so my employees could focus just on our mission - testing airplanes
Sometimes something someone else says about how their job is good makes you realize something messed up about your own job...
It's easy to accept mistreatment and terrible conditions as normal.
Love seeing Adam’s brain working in real-time to come up with a thoughtful coherent answer to a question.
This is what I admire about Adam: not only can he teach you how to make stuff but also teach you valueable life skills. His stories about how people handled situations is endlessly fascinating... 😎😎👍👍
I remember watching his video on drill-bits and really being drawn into it. I'm a 32 year old man who seriously can barely tell one end of a screwdriver from another. I have almost no mechanical inclination. I own a set of drill-bits, I've used them a couple of times. But with every video I've watched over the last year, I learn something endlessly interesting. Adam's passion for his craft bleeds into every fiber of what he does and it's incredible.
I just got out of a workplace where the Boss was constantly punching down. Everything that went wrong was always the employees fault, and we got yelled at and insulted as 'motivation' to do better. It was horrible, and unacceptable, and I am glad to be out of there at last.
One of my early supervisors/mentors taught me that you treat your people right, the work will get done; and he would light someone up if they ever came at one of us directly instead of going to him if they had a criticism/complaint-legitimate or not.
Empathy is a special skill set that takes work to find and learn. Sometimes you come together with others that have it. Rarely all at once.
@Josh El You don't think emotional empathy can be learned?
Needs to go viral. Might be some of the finest insights/advice I've seen (regarding work).
It is really nice to have managers that understand decision making and can process the "OODA Loop" fast enough to catch small problems before they become big problems. I have had good and bad managers over the years, a good manager can make a decision and let us work on a solution quickly, I have had bad managers who go deer in the headlights with problems and will sit there and waffle for a day or two then still manage to pick the worst option when they already spent the time it would have taken to complete the best option repair.
Another factor of adaptability is having a wide skill set. Many times, at work (small factory), I have been talking through a problem with someone about an idea and I say, "yeah, then we will weld it like this." They always ask, "you can weld?" Yes. On the other end of the skill spectrum, at work I am known as the person that writes training guides and work documents. Also, I do things like: writing a small program on one of our CNC machines to log the tool life when people make tool changes. Unfortunately, specialist get paid more on average, and few businesses want to pay for jack-of-all trades. They don't need us until they need us...
I genuinely love your take on great supervision. I don’t know many of any people that respond in a positive and productive way to being beaten on. I apply the same tactics as an educator and when I need to try to change a behavior I’d rather pull a kid aside and have a one on one conversation about the behavior and how I can help them move forward. Positivity is contagious…unfortunately so is negativity.
My dad taught me, "A Job is not worth doing if it's not worth doing right." (I know that saying goes differently, but that's how HE said it.)
This video offers a lot more nuance than "Perfection or Nothing."
So, the phrase, "C's get degrees" might be more applicable in certain circumstances.
My own thought process as a leader, something my dad told me before joining the Royal Air Force was never ask someone to do something your not prepared to do yourself, lead from the front. Served me well. Great video thanks for sharing 👍🍻
That is also a helpful mindset in the software industry. Deadlines refining decision trees, vs. "if I had an extra month, it could be really great". Sometimes it's about what you can deliver in a given timeframe, with the understanding that there will be tradeoffs.
During my time as a Journeyman Machinist, I tackled work on a Bridgeport that others in the shop said was too big for the machine.
The larger machines were often tied working on bigger jobs.
I drilled bolt circle patterns on bearing retainers that oft times has a 16" bolt circle pattern. I overcame the lack of "Y" axis travel and successfully completed the job.
I enjoyed overcoming the size limitations of a Bridgeport.
I once converted a Vertical CNC machining center into a lathe.
Installed the workpiece in a collet chuck.
Clamped a lathe turning tool into a vise.
With proper setup and programming, I completed the simple turning operations on time and under bid rate.
Again, this allowed the CNC lathe to keep running on its scheduled job.
I have done very similar things and continue to challenge myself everyday with this mindset. This is a powerful skill to have and many people are really mystified how I am able to accomplish some of the things I do! Come to think of it, I learned this philosophy a long time ago at one of my first jobs. I was moving furniture with a little old man who had been doing it his whole life. We had to get a huge sectional couch into a little van and I told him. "That will never fit in there!"
After he worked all the angles and used a lot of experience it got in like magic. It was like yoda lifted the x-wing! And I figured out the power of doing the seemingly impossible with less. It was Ingenuity! And I always remember what he told me when we got in the van to leave...
"Never say never."
The short snippet at the very first of the video, where he mentions someone he worked with with a "radically" different opinion on a matter - I think that should be more elaborated on. We as humans need to understand that difference of opinion is a strength.
I am fortunate enough to work with a small team (less than 20) in a job role for a larger organization that requires a ton of flexibility and problem solving. We have a extremely diverse mix of politics, religion, and opinion - yet are all smart enough to realize that these are strengths. It is one of the worst things to happen to modern society were people are weaponized against each other via propaganda to think that only one side of issue is correct and everyone who thinks differently is some sort of undesirable or lower form. I wish people would wake up to this, and toss off the mentality of "us or them." 90% of the time neither side is the right side, and the truth is in the middle. It is just a shame that so many people only look to one source for what they think, and adopt a "scorched earth" policy for anyone who thinks slightly different than they do. It used to not be this way, and this mentality is one area where society has went backwards.
Thank you so much for this. I feel like a fucking lunatic saying this sometimes because it feels like nobody else thinks this way!!!
Agree 100%. Seems like most other people think that the best teams are comprised of clones when in reality, the best teams are the most diverse in talent along with supportive attitudes.
You "share unwelcome information with people"
What a wonderful way of phrasing that.
An army of problem solvers! That is the ideal. I’ve been lucky enough to be part of something like that a few times. It’s a gift and it’s amazing to be a part of it.
Adam, I applaud the work you do. You're the eccentric uncle everyone wishes they have (and some are lucky enough to actually!) and I'm no exception. You've inspired me endlessly, and a combination of Mythbusters and Nitrous Oxide got me over my crippling fear of dentists and let me get a pretty smile for the first time in my life. Probably that roguish grin landed me the woman I'm going to making my fiance soon! (Ssshhh, don't tell her!) I dunno if you'll see this, but a happy holiday to you, from someone who's life you steered for the better in so many ways.
I've found it always makes the situation easier when you give management options to a situation. One less thing that they have to worry about is a good thing. I've been on teams with situations where there was a human failure causing major issues. Each time we have detailed the failure and what is being put in place to prevent it from occuring again. It has made managements life easier for when they have to go to their management to explain the situation.
So much of this is great knowledge transfer for other industries.
Great to see you again Adam!
"Army of problem solvers" is, Great idea. I definitely need to use this. thanks for the awesome videos.
Fantastic advice.
The staff ive led know if they succeed, ive made sure that all credit goes to them. If something goes wrong, all failure is mine.
That's the job.
Received one of the Savage Industries tape measures as a Christmas gift and it's awesome! Can't stop fiddling with it, definitely want to buy a second one!
Great advice! Thanks!
I was a weekend supervisor for a nursing home care/hospice. Before I assigned an extra case, i took first. I have taken someone’s remaining assignment and distributed it if they were with a family facing an active dying person. Worse if they are young. So…instead of sending help..i removed stress and distributed it. That is my management style!
I love this - also, each job is about figuring out what your are responsible for, and finding the solutions that make that happen. That can include engineering, organization, management, whatever. I’ve always felt that the primary responsibility of management is to nurture the talents of the labor/creative staff. Provide what they need, and they will give you what you want. Artificial limitations are brought on mostly by greed, and I just don’t understand what those folks think they’re doing.
I STIIL WATCH MYTHBUSTERS ADAM!!! thanks for helping make that show also HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!
Adam is so many things, Scientist, Builder, story teller and a man who loves his work, of that there is no doubt..
I've recently started managing at a photography company that does a lot of different kinds of work for a lot of different kinds of clients, and I hope to be able to employ such a mindset more effectively.
It must have been nice to be working with a group of people talented enough to step into a project and immediately be helpful. At my last job I was a specialist and none of my co-workers were familiar with the details of my work. On a major project that I was initially working on alone, my supervisor decided to create a team and assigned "helpers" to me. They were all talented in their own fields, but insisted on following the standards of those unrelated fields. I had attended external training in which it was specified that the external certification auditors required specific wording and verification, but the rest of my team refused to use it. After much of their work failed in the preliminary audit, I had to go back and rewrite all of the work instructions that the others had worked on anyway!
More people on a job is sometimes is a negative, It more often often not works against you in my industry.
Even though I asked the question and I saw/heard this on the live stream, WOW is it still weird and unexpected to hear Adam say my name haha Still thankful he deemed my question worthy of answering.
Love your watch Adam
Nice Video thanks adam sir
Adam Savage is right if you're a supervisor or manager above other people and they're behind on a project or assignment you don't jump on top of them and scream and yell what you do is you ask is there something that you need to complete the project also there's times as a supervisor or manager that if you're a manager or a supervisor over certain job set you should have the skills to do that job set so sometimes you have to jump in there and help.
I work in a different industry than you, yet this was still a fantastic video on managing people.
It's the sign of a great technician. The project failed, here are 3 options to proceed with time frames. This allowed the higher ups to make an easy decision. That is how you keep your job.
Happy Holidays!
thanks
I have often thought that good managers are like the sweepers in curling. They sweep the crap out of the way so that the workers can get their job done. Unfortunately, very few managers I've worked with agreed with that analogy.
Now Adam, something that’s important about adaptability is realising things may not go perfectly and not exploding if it happens. Something I learned in radio operator training, you’ve got to pretend that whatever you hear on the radio is exactly what you expected to hear. Look for solutions and pivot to your plan b, c, or d.
I wish I was able to have that experience when I was a supervisor. Unfortunately in construction most of the labor doesn’t want to be there, shows up hungover or in a pissy and argumentative mood, or doesn’t bother showing up randomly. I didn’t have a great experience but still managed my end and still love the industry. I’m doing fabrication and taking orders now though. Not supervising.
you pay peanuts you get monkeys dude
I've always said my primary gauge of a manager is how good of an insulator they are.
Check out Tata Avinya.
The difrence between bosses and leaders
There is a reason why they are the premier SFX shop!
I spent my entire career , 37 years with the AF and was always amazed when I met a very left leaning co worker
Film Deadlines are what I call *Brick Wall Deadlines*
(Crew comes from other cities and all paid for hotels, studios+cameras+greenscreens rented, director flying in ...so you HAVE TO GET THE PROP FINISHED NO MATTER WHAT.)
(The deadline's coming like you're headed for a brick-wall and there's no moving it)
#TheForceIsStrongWithThisOne 🤺
Again, I wish for a way to add "thumbs ups"! Merry Christmas to all!
You are the umbrella for everyone below you…
so, the answer is just to be a Geordi le forge. don't be too conservative on your time estimates but don't Scotty it either,.
I'm a Barkley
Adam is there a way to directly message you as I have a very personal message to give you in regards to something that could of happened to me if it was not for you and team mythbusters currently don't use any social media so could be difficult
America certainly is weird : Adams first thoughts about the mindset of co-workers is to go to their politics ! Here in Europe I've worked in many businesses over 30 years, and we've never talked politics. Who cares about your politics. We care if you are collegiate; knowledge sharing; collaborative; willing to give a hand; able to ask for help etc. If you support abortion, and I don't : I. Don't. Care.
Which Terminator 3 did he work on?
So basically that mindset is like school. Minus elitist illusions manifest by grade scales.
Anyway, it's great to have supervisors who understand their role ultimately is as an assistant rather than slave driver. I've always maintained that perspective when leading a team, and it's bonkers how much push back I get from equals to higher-ups. You want my people to perform? Cool. Give them what they ask for, not silence or excuses about budgets when we're talking hand tools, not a brand new Haas CNC machine.
lol 'See You Next Tuesday'
It's delegation of authority, but not of responsibility. Bad workplaces swap those two around.
Death penalty? For me the only question is whether the process is unbiased, a high bar. Executing actual torturers and serial killers is punching down, by moral standards, but executing perceived "traitors" would be a variable that could punch anywhere, depending on the regime, by political standards..
Jurassiko Park
Adam, I was very recently wondering- given the hilarity with the “herding cats” episode, did you think of testing other aphorisms like “more fun than a barrel of monkeys” or “easier than shooting fish in a barrel”?
Fish in a barrel was done, they also did Bull in China Shop... turns out bulls are very careful when navigating small spaces
@@Artista_Frustrado I remember the bull one lol- it didnt knock a single shelf over!
As Artista mentioned, fish in a barrel was done, as for finding a full episode on it, I couldn't find many options, DiscoveryPlus or ClickView may be your best bets
Awesome, I did not know about these.
the thing I like about deadlines is the whooshing sound they make as they fly by :P
Yeah, but who in their right mind wants to browbeat the Hyneman?
I'VE JNUST CANCELEEED 50-100K DEAAL CPS OF THIS SHIT. TY
Adam savage job is to be human shock absorber... 😳... Neat... 😁
I miss Jamie Hyneman
Why?
@@TheStockwellhe gives great mustache rides
Please make a One Day Build with Hyneman
Every time I have ever listened to NPR, I was struck by how they say things that anyone with a brain would punch holes through in a second.
I'm sure you did all have the same politics. You would've fired any conservative
I hate how everyone is calling everyone "folks" nowadays. It's cringe.
Get a better stool Adam, the amount of fidgeting shows it must be uncomfortable ;)
"We all listened to NPR..." Figures.
No punching down as long as you all listen to NPR and one person has a different opinion on the Death Penalty. Yeah, you're a hypocrite Adam.
Political topics are irrelevant while building anything. I don't care about your political beliefs, I care about a quality product.
First
How old are you? I'm asking for a friend - a friend who feels sorry for people older than the age of seven who don't think that whole "First!" routine is pathetic.
No offense intended. 😐
Wait,,he worked for ILM!?
My takeaway: Don't be judgmental.
With all respect, having worked in the film industry, this is total bullshit. It might be how people at ILM worked, but punching down, and horizontally, is par for the course in the biz. In fact, the DP literally punched one of the AD's in the face on the feature film I worked on. You better have a thick skin if you jump into this game.
Poor management is nothing to be proud of.
How pitiful
You didn’t answer the guys question. You threw a bunch of word salad up until you could contort his question onto sounding like the other question. Bad form old man. Lol
NPR? My condolences.