Technology organization solution?

[Jeff Vanderkooy]

Hi
I am usually a LD, but I'm taking on new responsibilities of organization and morphing into a TD, I am having a problem where the little details of shows coming up are blurring into each other. I am wondering what tools, software/tricks, I can use to keep the details straight? Is there software that I can enter the details of each show; notes I have from reading the rider, date tracking, contacts, crew needs, call list, who has been asked/not asked/is unavailable, special needs, etc..? Software that I can use between devices iPhone and laptop(mac or windows)?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[gafftaper]

I'm a fan of a combination of technology and old school. First off file folders, print outs of emails, and paper are the best way I've found to keep all the raw data. There are times that what you need is a quick access to something that was said in an e-mail last month. Putting everything in a folder makes it much easier to track all that kind of stuff. Once you have the folder and you are ready to simplify and organize, I suggest making a standard spreadsheet or document which you use. Create a template.

Take this your master event file with all the details and post it on Dropbox. Dropbox is a harddrive in the sky with folders which can be shared (or not) with whomever you like. Dropbox is website based so you can access it from any computer. They have apps for Android, IOS, Blackberry, even Kindle Fire. It's a great way to upload and share files.

I'm a fan of Google calendar. Have all your staff sign up for Google accounts, then share a calendar with all of them... Date of the event, call time, show time, who is working, all that kind of simple details that everyone needs access to goes on the calendar. Anyone on staff can access the basic info.

Finally when crew arrives there should be a print out of your master event file for everyone.

 

[Footer]

There is no perfect production management software out there. There are some solutions, but they are are priced and under featured.

Take a look at Evernote, I use it to a degree for note taking before I boil things down into an advance.

Beyond that, it is all about templates. It is also all about being consistent. For us, every show produces 4 documents: A stage labor schedule, a production estimate, a production advance, and a show report. Depending on the show it could also produce a more in depth schedule.

Our production advance template breaks everything down by dept. Each item in the dept gets a bullet point note. It also covers loading dock issues, show schedule, break schedule, client day of contact, etc. My staff knows what to look for in the advance. PM me and I can send you a copy of one...

Beyond that, our stage labor schedule gets made during the advance process. I keep a shared address book that I have all of my staff in sorted by dept. and call priority. I fill in who I know can do the gig and then after that I start emailing to get the rest filled... if needed. That is a living document until the show gets filled.

The production estimate is what goes out to the client to tell them of their production expenses (labor, PA rental, backline rental, etc).

Finally, we do a show report for each show. That is also a template. It gives labor times, show times, loading dock access times, medical incidents, broken gear, and client issues.

ALL of this is virtual documents. We are still rather attached to Microsoft products. We use outlook for email which I have grown to love. For document storage we use sharepoint. Inside of our "Production Documents" sharepoint site we have a folder for each year and then month. Each show gets its own folder by date. All documents pertaining to that show live there, including riders, stage plots, etc. We also have a separate area to store building documents such as our rep light plots and inventories. I can access all of this from home, work, my phone, tablet, whatever. None of it is paper until it hits the call board a few days out from the show.