Why am I rebuilding something I have already figured out?
You get assigned a project and part of it feels familiar.
You have done something like this before. You remember finding a useful template, or developing a process that worked well. You might even remember being really proud of the result.
But where did you put it? What were the steps? Why did you decide to approach it that way?
So you spend time searching through old folders or you open a blank document and start again.
One of the things I encourage people to do when developing their career as a craft is to start a collection. Somewhere you can keep the resources, methods, and examples that support how you work.
Because having a perspective on your profession is wonderful, but you also need ways to put that perspective into practice.
That is where a craft playbook becomes useful.
What belongs in a craft playbook?
A playbook can be a folder, a document, or a collection of notes. It holds things you know how to use, along with enough explanation to help you use them again.
It might include a checklist you created, a useful article, a framework you learned from somebody else, or an example of how you approached a particular problem before. Some of it even serves as your own portfolio collection of work you’ve done.
You do not have to invent everything yourself. Part of developing your craft is finding useful approaches and understanding how they fit the way you work. Over time, you might adjust them, combine them, or create something of your own.
And you do not need to build an elaborate system either.
Start with one thing you would have liked to have handy on a recent project.
If you are saving work examples, keep confidential employer and customer information in the appropriate company systems. You can write a general description of your approach without copying sensitive material into a personal collection. For resources created by someone else, keep the source and attribution attached.
What should I save alongside the resource?
The resource itself is only part of what you want to preserve.
A template might remind you what you filled in. It may not remind you why those questions mattered, what you noticed while using it, or where it needed adjusting.
So add a short note answering:
- What problem does this help me work through?
- How do I use it?
- Why did it help or why do I think it could help?
- What conditions might require me to change it?
If you have never used the resource, mark that too. Something you want to try belongs in a different place in your thinking from something you have used successfully.
The goal is to give your future self enough context to make a good decision. A few useful sentences can do that.
What could one useful entry look like?
For a hypothetical example, imagine you interview customers as part of your work.
You found that a conversation became more useful when you asked someone to describe a recent experience, then followed the sequence of what actually happened. You save the questions you used.
Your entry might be called “Customer interviews: understanding a recent buying decision.”
The problem it helps with is getting past general statements like, “We needed something easier to use.”
Your method is to ask about the last time the customer looked for a solution. What prompted the search? What did they try? Who was involved? What made them move forward or hesitate?
Your note on why it helped might say: “Walking through a specific experience gave me examples behind the customer’s general answer. I could understand what ‘easier’ meant in their situation.”
Then add what may need changing. Interviewing someone who uses a product could require different follow-up questions from interviewing the person who approved the purchase.
Now, the next time you need to prepare for a customer conversation, you have a starting point and the reasoning behind it. You can decide what applies.
How do I make sure I actually use what I save?
Put the collection somewhere you already know to look and name entries after the problems they help you solve.
“Customer interview questions” is easier to recognize later than “Interesting resource.”
If useful material lives in several places, a simple index with links and short descriptions can be enough. The important part is being able to find what you need when the work shows up.
For this week, choose one recurring problem and save one useful method, example, or resource. Add the short explanation, give it a recognizable name, and try finding it again before the next relevant task.
Let the collection develop as your work develops. Some things will stay useful. Others will need changing or removing.
You have already spent time gaining experience. Give yourself a way to draw on it when you need it.
And… with one major final caveat which I’ve covered in another article. Use this as something to draw from not as something you copy/paste use. The context of why something in your playbook worked before is important to know how it needs to be modified to the context of your current job!
