Best/Worst with Buzz Usborne

What’s the best thing about your job?

I’ve always worked for agencies and big teams, and whilst that had it’s benefits, as a designer I always felt quite low in the chain of command. I often found myself forced to design against my better judgement, or to make decisions based on what I could achieve fastest—instead of designing the right solution for the brief.

Here at Campaign Monitor, I work directly for the client, so without those tight agency budgets or demanding clients, I can really take control of my projects without making unnecessary compromises or cutting corners. The responsibility of owning projects from start to finish has got to be one of the best, and most challenging parts of my job. Going from agency to client-side has really led me to appreciate how lucky I am to say that.

And the worst?

Ironically, the best part of my job is sometimes the worst; after working in an agency environment for almost 7 years before my role here, I find it easy to lose focus and momentum when there are no concrete deadlines or budgets to reign me in.

I realize now that the agency chain of command—the projects managers, client liaison, directors and the clients—meant that I always knew what I was supposed to be doing, when I needed to start worrying, and when I needed to get my team to pull their weight. Working for the client I don’t have that, so it becomes easy to drift along and extend a deadline exponentially.

So to maintain that agency-level of pressure I’ve had to become a better project manager, to be stricter with my own deliverables and deadlines, even if they’re unachievable or overambitious, which means that if I’m stressed out, I only have myself to blame. Ultimately it’s these daily challenges I face that make my job interesting, and force me to be a better designer.

Buzz is a designer and token English guy at Campaign Monitor in Sydney.