How to Balance Between Structure and Flexibility in Creative Projects
- Adilla
- Aug 15
- 4 min read
We tend to believe that creativity doesn’t work well with structure, but you’d be surprised to know that with ‘limitation’, ideas would develop better. However, you do need to balance structure and flexibility well. Having too much flexibility could cause chaos, while too much structure could stifle creativity. With the right project management skills, you will be able to find the balance needed for your creative project.
Table of Contents
Balancing Structure vs. Flexibility in Creative Work
In creative work, structure provides a clear goal and defined roles that align with the strengths of creative teams. Objectives and deadlines would be aligned, preventing delays and potential misinformation. Then, collaboration would also be established better with teams that are clear with their roles.
Meanwhile, flexibility encourages experimentation, fostering creativity and leading to unexpected results that benefit the project. Creative teams experience less pressure, as a strict structure can be stressful.
Combining structure and flexibility in creative work can be a double-edged sword; it's useful when done right.
Why Creative Teams Need to Balance Structure and Flexibility
By balancing structure and creativity, creative project managers would establish a creative workflow. But what is it?
When it comes to creative workflow, you would think that you won’t need structure, but without structure, there wouldn’t be a flow in the first place. Let’s picture it this way: running water is creativity. When you just let water run, it only gets wasted. Directing the water to where it would be productive is what creative workflow is.
Plus, most running water doesn’t just flow to only one place; it branches out and flourishes anywhere it goes.
You could say it’s flexible planning: a layout, a framework without the rigidity of it.
Building Flexible Frameworks
Adaptability is a trait needed for a framework made for creative projects. Methods like Agile or the Adaptive Project Framework are suitable for that. While other methods like Waterfall or Kanban would work too, these might not have the adaptability that you would need when you manage creative projects.
Your project management skills will come in handy as you structure a framework to find what can be kept flexible and what needs to be in a constant structure.
3 Tools to Keep Your Creative Projects on Track
It’s time to use your project management skills for good and structure your creative projects through tools to better track them.
TESSR
If you want a bit of customisation but also a bit of structure, TESSR is the balance of structure and creativity that you seek. With features like Review, where your team can give contextual comments on visual projects without switching platforms, and My Work to keep track of your tasks according to due date and priority, your creative project has the right structure to keep it from going chaotic and the flexibility to keep the creativity flowing.
We can guide you on how to utilise it better for your next projects!
Notion
If you like to customise everything and your team requires a very specific feature, Notion as a project management tool might be something you can consider. While typically used for students to structure their school schedule, it is also possible to do the same with creative projects.
Excel or Sheet
If you are still unsure where to start, consider starting out with something as simple as an Excel sheet, whether it be through Google Workspace or Microsoft. With a familiar interface to start you out, you’re less likely to feel overwhelmed when you structure your creative project.
Key Takeaways
Balancing structure and creativity can be tricky at first, depending on your creative projects and creative team.
With the right project management skills and tools, your team would perform better and establish a creative workflow.
Flexible planning or frameworks, like Agile and Adaptive Project Framework, can help guide you in finding the mixture of structure and flexibility required.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
How do creatives create structure without limiting creativity?
Creatives can create structures by experimenting with different methods of organisation that won’t affect the flow of their creativity. Sometimes something as simple as a to-do list with time blocks could be enough to keep you on track without stifling your ideas.
What tools help balance freedom and deadlines?
Several tools help with balancing freedom and deadlines. They come in a range of simple organisations to detailed breakdowns of your tasks. If you would like something simple while still retaining most of your freedom, combining the use of Todoist and Pomodoro when performing your creative task is one way.
A more structured way would be with Toggl Track or EmpMonitor, which tracks the time you spend on different tasks. This helps with providing insights into how you allocate your time, so you can structure and prioritise your tasks better.
Is it okay to change the project scope midway?
While changing the project scope midway may not be ideal and would lead to potential issues, with the right project management skills, you can prevent it from turning into a problem.
Before deciding to change the project scope, ensure that it is necessary for the project’s success, then carefully evaluate how the transition will affect the overall timeline of the project. Then, communicate this with your stakeholders, why the change is necessary and the impact that is relevant to your clients and project team separately.
Author Bio
With a background in Arts English, Adilla has been a casual writer for various hobbies, like parodies of animated shows and plots for board games. She loves to read anything and everything from fantasy stories to articles on tips and tricks. Now an advocate for mental health and effective project management for the creative industry. Currently, Adilla resides in Malaysia and is a creative writer at TESSR. To know more about her, check out her LinkedIn.
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