The Pencil System is Good, but We Barely Need It
The rules are simple. I’m sure it evolved naturally. No one called a meeting and started it. It came around because its a fairly good model of how people work.
In practice, it’s nuanced & complex. The balance of power swings fully & unexpectedly, causing thrills and upsets.
The game, as I understand it.
You start. You call me. You have a ‘maybe’ job on the horizon. You know I can do it & you want to make a booking. You can’t literally make the booking right now.
I agree. I like the sound of the job. It’s my kind of work and I’m available. I want it.
Client does whatever it is they do. We’re not privy to that. But it will be them, and not us, that sets the whole thing in motion.
We remain in contact until it goes one way or the other
That is the pencil working well. There’s good tension, plenty at stake. There’s active engagement & trust. When a pencil is good, it’s barely required. We’re gearing up, there’s a degree of anticipation.
Sometimes there’s not much to manage.
And that’s fine too. There’s no job in particular, the company needs cover just in case something shows up. It would be horrible if something DOES show up a client cannot be provided for. Still, things could get a little awkward.
The lack of urgency is always sensed by the operator, who might start to wonder if it was wise to surrender some control over their diary for nothing.
Occasionally we get to see this play out, if something big shows up for the op on the long forgotten pencil. Few would expect them to request permission to leave, to get back in touch just to ask for their own diary, a final humiliation, pleading freedom to those who have ghosted them?
This pencil has drifted. So was there any cover at all? Does this system have much of a point?
Your pencils are going to run their course anyway
Schedules develop with dramatic twists. A wrong move by the operator can cost 100% percent of income for a short period. Likewise, it could irreparably damage a vital client company relationship.
With livelihoods at stake, I’d say that acknowledgement of shifting priorities is key, perhaps the only requirement.
A pencil is a rock solid agreement that is not be broken - so long as both sides remain in touch.
Maybe it wouldn’t have to be this way if everybody called up to officially end an inactive pencil, but that is not the culture. The current sign is a drop off in communication, let’s be upfront about that, which I think is how most us do it in practice anyway? Your thoughts are welcome.