L’Arte di Arrangiarsi
 

In Italian, the phrase l’arte di arrangiarsi is used to express the concept of “the art of getting by" or "figuring it out on your own.” A couple of recent jobs reminded me of that Italian saying. I think they are worth sharing (and, perhaps, a bit of bragging).

While I generally don’t like to turn work away, there are times when a job either doesn’t fit our capabilities or it pushes our team to the point of being unprofitable. There are also times when jobs start out looking perfect and then they suddenly take another direction. That’s where the expression “arrangiarsi” comes in …it’s a scrappy determination to get by, doing the best that can be done. Here are a couple of examples of Seattle Bindery’s arrangiarsi.

Job #1 Wire-O™ Book Over Thanksgiving Holiday
This book had been in the discussion stages for quite awhile. However, by the time our customer had approved artwork, the cushion time in the schedule evaporated to the point of it becoming a hair-raising deadline. Despite the fact that our customer’s client had held up the approval process, that same client was insistent on the original delivery deadline, a schedule that would push everyone’s capabilities and holiday spirit to the limit. After all our suggestions to buy some breathing room in the schedule, including delivery of partials, were rejected by the client, we went into “let’s get ‘er done” mode. We ended up working two people on Thanksgiving Day, seven people on the Friday holiday, eight people on Saturday, and eight people on Sunday. While it wasn’t the happiest way to spend the Thanksgiving holiday, we did make the Monday delivery deadline, which kept our customer a happy one.

Job #2 Coupon Book in 18 Hours
Another recent “let’s get ‘er done” project was for a new customer that had been referred to us by an existing customer, for which we are always grateful. After reviewing the job, we agreed to an aggressive deadline based on assumptions about what the incoming product would look like. Unfortunately, what was delivered was far from what was expected. However, we felt we had committed to the deadline and now “owned” the due date, especially since it was to be inserted with a publication that had a hard, fixed drop date. (Not so different from the example of lettuce: Miss the date? Throw the product away!) With no choice, we dug in and “got ‘er done,” requiring one of our key guys to spend over eighteen hours on a Saturday. Our driver then had to deliver the job around 2:00 AM on Sunday morning. Again, though, we made the deadline.

We hope these are inspiring examples of how our crew will go the extra mile—in the case of the Coupon Book job, an extra five miles!—to get your job done.

Here's to a busy and profitable 2011.

Seattle  Bindery
6540 South Glacier Street, Suite 120
Seattle, WA 98188

Phone: 425-656-8210
Fax: 425-656-4400
miltvine@seattlebindery.com
http://www.seattlebindery.com

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