So, the proofing department might possibly have a reputation for being sticklers: pretty rigid about our proofing changes and as overprotective as new parents about grammar and language. Because of that stigma (and, admittedly, it’s at least partially accurate), I’m proud of us for how well we’ve handled the complete overhaul of … well … everything we do in the past few months. They have been mostly minor changes so far, with the exception of our new company network that will eventually house pretty much everything everybody does (It’s a monster that just keeps growing), but about three weeks ago our department changed its name and pulled in some new members, including a Director of Operations, Brian, whose primary job responsibility is to increase efficiency and trim the fat off of every single process in every single department. I threw all caution to the wind and eagerly jumped on Brian’s bandwagon. I presented several ideas to him. He liked those ideas, so we pulled in the heads of the creative teams they’d be affecting. They liked our ideas, too. Now, to tell our respective teams. At our proofer meeting the afternoon after we discussed these changes with the creative team heads, I broke the exciting news and really shook things up: In short, we’re cutting out a considerable amount of proofing. We’re reestablishing ourselves as a team that double-checks creative to make sure there aren’t any errors rather than a team that corrects all errors through to completion. We want to help the creative teams take real pride and ownership over their work and reduce the frustration that comes from delivering a print ad back and forth time after time after time. From a department that used to check changes through until a piece of creative was completely error-free, this was shocking news – I even got a dropped jaw in response, which I tend to think of as a dramatic movie reaction. But it’s had a few days to sink in now, and I think that, come Monday when we put this into action, we’ll all be ready to go and explore new ground. And as Brian and I work with other teams, more big changes will happen and more jaws will drop. And then we’ll adapt, because in PlattForm’s proofing department, we don’t rest on good enough. We strive for excellence, even when it means changing everything we know. Rigid sticklers … pffft.