What pottery taught me about operations (& life)

I know this title sounds surreal, but please humour me for a bit and it might end up making sense.

I have been curious about pottery for a few years now. I did an intro to pottery a few years back, which I enjoyed and kept in a small corner of my brain as something to go back to.

With Covid and the strict lockdown we went through last year in the UK, I craved doing something with my hands. I experimented with painting, air-drying clay, sourdough and making my Kombucha.
Nothing special here I am afraid, we all went through this phase.

But pottery became the thing I wanted to do as soon as lockdown eased. And I did. It was an amazing 8 weeks immersion with Turning Earth Ceramics. I got hooked on the 1st lesson and didn't stop after that. Today, it became a weekly rendez-vous at the wheel.

I could talk about it for hours, but this is a blog about Ops, not ceramics right?

So let's get to it! These are the lessons pottery taught me about Operations - but they also apply to life in general:

Start small

When you start making vessels on the wheel, you have to start small. How can you build a massive vase if you can't even make a mug stand?
It sounds obvious when said this way, but we often forget it when it comes to building a process, solidifying a company culture or hiring a team.
In both pottery and a company, the bigger the task you tackle, the more resources (money or clay) and time you consume.
The size of the task itself increases its probability of failing. As said above, it's easier to make a decent coffee mug than a 1-meter vase.

Focus

When you're sitting at the wheel, as soon as you lose focus and your brain wanders, your body gets out of sync.

That's when you commit a mistake, sometimes too small to even notice and the whole balance of your vessel is off. It will eventually collapse.
In pottery and an early-stage start-up, extreme focus is key.
While in pottery, your arms and your hands building the vessel, and your legs controlling speed need to all be in sync - which means your brain needs to be in the moment to orchestrate the above, in a start-up all teams need to align on the same goal for it to be reached.

(Watch this great video for examples of these mistakes/failures. They happen so fast you wouldn't even notice them.)

Find the right pace

The speed at which you set the wheel is also very important in pottery. If you go too fast, you're not in control of your movements. You might throw the vessel off balance.
If you go too slow, you might put too much pressure on one single point for too long and weaken it. Or you might not impulse enough energy for your vessel to stretch up.
The speed at which you build your vessel up will be different from the one you'll need to trim it or put the finishing details.

This is also true for operations. Depending on the task, its importance or the risks it bears, you'll need to go fast or slow.
Always make sure the pace you set enables you to be in control without allowing you to spend too much time on less impactful details. The right pace will vary based on the job at hand, expect it to change.

You are going to fail

There is no avoiding it. Sometimes it will be your fault. Spend time reflecting on your hand position, the amount of pressure you put on the vessel when you're building pots; or the decisions you made, the process you followed when it's about Ops.

You'll learn a lot from past mistakes if you acknowledge failure and your responsibility for it. Which will in turn avoid you making the same mistakes again.

If you are going to fail, fail fast

I am the type of person who doesn't give up easily. When I started pottery, I would mess up a bowl, see it was messed up and try to save it. Maybe it can turn into an okay cup? The teacher would have to force me to let go of it and start something new.

Not giving up means acknowledging something isn't working, letting go of it and trying again. The faster you do that, the faster you'll find the thing that works.

Do it again

You don't become a potter in one day. It takes repetition, experiments, failures.
The same goes for anything Ops (or life really). Don't give up. Anything you want to be good at will require practice and repetition.

Switch off

As you can see from this article, ideas and reflections come from the most unexpected places. Find something that allows you to switch off from work and lets your mind wander. Pottery is great for that because you're forced off your phone - your hands will be too dirty!

What is it for you?