Creative work can only happen in sprints.
and it is foolish to expect creatives or creativity to be a consistent output.
Consistency can be illusion-ed by increasing the frequency of the sprint to more than desired, but cannot be forced by asking the artist to work through the hours.
For creating something new out of thin air is a sacred act, and it doesn't happen by force.
You might think that 'sprint' is a word that's defined by the whimsy of the artists' heart and that, that can never work with capitalism.
That people must give output in continuous, non discrete, determinate and controllable manners, alike to machines on the assembly line.
However the initiation of a sprint is influenced by many more factors that the manager of said artist might not like the sound of.
The initiation of the sprint primarily depends on whether the narrative of the challenge has absorbed properly by artist.
For the narrative of the challenge in the mind of the artist is what determines the activation energy he has, and the activation energy they perceive shall be needed to enter into the sprint and achieve a state of flow.
Here, it is important to note that this framing of the challenge, has external factors like the situation or the person that brought upon the challenge in front of the artist, but also factors involving the current life scenario of the artist.
- in the short term - has the artist gotten a chance to take care of oneself
- in the long term - does the artist feel inspired to experience the this challenge in the larger story of his life.
While the capitalistic manager may not like it, the creative breakthrough work that he expects and is dependent upon can only come from such sprints, and one might have to wait for the 'set and the setting' to be right, before the artist can diffuse in and create such work.
The best the manager can do to influence this is build in environment that facilitates the artist, and care about the artist as a human, beyond work, not as a cog in the machine.
For, for the artist, there is no work, no life, no separation, it is all expression through oneself, and being able to use self as a vessel to bring something alive.
The manager must understand and respect this, for, frankly, he yearns to experience and create such output, but hasn't yet reached such one-ness and awareness with self to truly become a overflowing vessel of creative expression.
The manager must also understand what a important responsibility one is on taking being a manager and facilitating an environment for the artist.
For artists are very sensitive people, and in an environment unsafe, they die.
Creative work can only happen in sprints.
And isn't that a great thing!