Hiring the first person

For a long time this studio was one person, a row of printers and a very organized spreadsheet. Bringing in a second pair of hands was the biggest change we have made, and not for the reason you would guess.

What got faster

• Support removal and sanding, which is the slowest part of any order.
• Packing, because two people can build a mailer in half the time it takes one.
• The reprint loop, because someone can start a new print while the other finishes the order.

What got slower, briefly

Everything that requires a shared decision. Two people means two opinions about whether a piece with a faint layer shift is sellable. We solved it with a written standard: if either of us would not put it on our own shelf, it gets reprinted. Having the rule in writing removed most of the debate.

The hardest part of hiring was not training a person. It was writing down what I had been doing by feel.

The unexpected benefit is that the studio now catches its own mistakes earlier. A second pair of eyes sees the flaw that the person who printed it has stopped noticing.