[QUOTE=Amorano;11530]
“I will approach every person and problem with my ears and mind open.”
.[/QUOTE]
I think i like this way it is currently, as it speaks to being an active part of the Tech Art community specifically, which is the intent of the statement.
[QUOTE=Rob Galanakis;11528]
I am a Tech Artist,
I will approach every problem with an open mind,
And with ears open to colleagues and peers across the industry.
I will solve the problems of today,
Improve the solutions of yesterday,
And design the answers of tomorrow.
I will do my job so that those with talents are in control.
[/QUOTE]
I’m lovin’ it, with the possible exception of the last line here… It seems a little self-deprecating IMO. I would advocate taking it out, but I think the idea needs to be in there. Also, I agree with amorano. Those two lines can be combined into one.
I really like the idea of ending the verse with “And Design the answers of tomorrow” Maybe move that last line above “I will solve the problems of today,”
I am a Tech Artist,
I will ope my ears and mind to the voices of my colleagues and peers across the industry,
And do my job so that they can do theirs.
I will solve the problems of today,
Improve the solutions of yesterday,
And design the answers of tomorrow.
If you don’t mind the length of line two, I think it works 
If you do mind the length, it can be shortened as far as:
I will ope mine ears to the voices of my peers across the industry
One final thing: the “you” in verse 1 could be replaced with a more generic pronoun I think.
I am a Tech Artist,
Every day I will teach, learn, and assist,
And build bridges between teams, people and ideas.
I will observe without interrupting and mediate without judging.
I may not give exactly what is asked for,
But I will provide what is needed.
I am a Tech Artist,
I will ope my ears and mind to the voices of my colleagues and peers across the industry,
And do my job so that they can do theirs.
I will solve the problems of today,
Improve the solutions of yesterday,
And design the answers of tomorrow.
I am a Tech Artist,
I am a leader for my team,
And a standard-bearer for my community.
I will do what needs to be done,
I will advocate for what should be done,
And my decisions will be in the best interest of the production.
Suggested changes:
Stanza 1:
was:
I may not give exactly what you ask for,
But I will provide what you need.
is:
I may not give exactly what is asked for,
But I will provide what is needed.
stanza 2:
shuffled around the whole thing.
was:
I am a Tech Artist,
I will approach every problem with an open mind,
And with ears open to colleagues and peers across the industry.
I will solve the problems of today,
Improve the solutions of yesterday,
And design the answers of tomorrow.
I will do my job so that those with talents are in control.
is:
I am a Tech Artist,
I will ope my ears and mind to the voices of my colleagues and peers across the industry,
And do my job so that they can do theirs.
I will solve the problems of today,
Improve the solutions of yesterday,
And design the answers of tomorrow.
stanza 3:
was:
standard bearer
is:
standard-bearer
(I dunno if this was what you were going for (Standard-bearer - Wikipedia), but it’s a cool mental image and it works in a metaphorical sense.
That’s all I can think of for now O.o
I’ve been following this thread and feel like the “Tech Artists Creed” as stated is pretty awesome. My only suggestions to the above would be to use the shorter version, but changed a bit:
Original shortened:
I will ope mine ears to the voices of my peers across the industry
New shortened:
Opening my mind and ears to the voices of my peers
“across the industry” is a bit implied since we’re speaking about peers (and 3d in general throughout).
Also, I think that this:
“And build bridges between teams, people and ideas.”
sounds better as:
“Building bridges between teams, people and ideas.”
I’m not sure how I feel about: “And my decisions will be in the best interest of the production.” It makes it seem like we know what’s best for the production rather than it being about the team knowing what’s best for production - and throughout the rest of it, it talks about being collaborative and building bridges, so I’m not sure that the phrasing is what we’re looking for, but I can’t think of another way to put that. Maybe:
“And my teams decisions will be in the best interest of the production.”
The problem with that is that, now we’ve taken the focus from us and put it on the team and then it’s not really a “Creed” since it’s supposed to be specific to us. Maybe someone else has a better idea though.
Aside from that I think it’s great. Maybe someone can whip this into a design of some sort we can all print up and hang at our desks once we have the wording sorted. Thanks for starting this up Rob.
I am a Tech Artist,
Every day I will teach, learn, and assist,
And build bridges between teams, people, and ideas.
I will observe without interrupting and mediate without judging.
I may not give exactly what you ask for,
But I will provide what you need.
I am a Tech Artist,
#My mind and ears will be open to colleagues and peers,
#And I will do my job so that they can do theirs.
OR
#I will approach every problem with mind and ears open
#To my colleagues and peers across the industry.
I will solve the problems of today,
Improve the solutions of yesterday,
And design the answers of tomorrow.
I am a Tech Artist,
I am a leader for my team,
And a standard-bearer for my community.
I will do what needs to be done,
I will advocate for what should be done,
And my decisions will be in the best interest of the production.
Changes:
Removed last line of verse 2.
Changed: “I will approach every problem with an open mind,/And with ears open to colleagues and peers across the industry.” to “I will approach every problem with mind and ears open/To my colleagues and peers across the industry.”
Which of verse 2 lines 2/3 do you like better?
Standard bearer -> standard-bearer
Responses:
Amorano: Regarding ‘I am a Tech Artist’, I prefer this to specific descriptions of what a TA works on (‘soft programmer’ (what is that?), ‘pipeline engineer’, etc). We work on different things as TA’s, and while I have my strong personal views about what TA’s should be, I want to make this inclusionary.
Arrant: Building bridges: The suggested line changes the meaning. The current phrase says ‘I will teach, learn, assist, and build bridges’. The suggested says ‘I will build bridges by doing teaching, learning, and assisting.’ I prefer the current one as the bridge building is purposeful rather than a side effect.
Inky: I just took out the last line of verse 2. I think the sentiment was great in the original post, but I think it was hard to present it properly in the context of the creed. If someone wants to figure out a way to get that line back in, I’m all ears.
I want to leave the ‘you’ in the first stanza. Blame the Rolling Stones but I think it sounds more meaningful and less awkward than the more formal version.
Good job on finding the grammar mistake with standard-bearer.
Regarding verse 2, please see the two choices and pick/suggest. The suggested line was too long and the shortened line I wasn’t keen on.
I really appreciate the in depth feedback, thanks!
General:
The two remaining question marks are:
Verse 2 Lines 2/3. Please see choices inline or suggest something new.
The last line of the creed. I understand the criticisms and would love to find something better. Throw out some ideas.
[QUOTE=Rob Galanakis;11608]
Amorano: Regarding ‘I am a Tech Artist’, I prefer this to specific descriptions of what a TA works on (‘soft programmer’ (what is that?), ‘pipeline engineer’, etc). We work on different things as TA’s, and while I have my strong personal views about what TA’s should be, I want to make this inclusionary.[/QUOTE]
Hey Rob, yeah I don’t think I explained what I meant with that too well.
Soft. engineer would have been a better analogy.
Point is that the truncated forms of the word: soft. for software, pipe. for pipeline i.e. Pipe. Engineer for Pipeline Engineer.
Is there a rationale to use the truncated form of Technical (Tech.) instead of the full form?
I just find that truncating the word Technical to Tech. doesn’t sound quite right to me.
I am all for inclusion! =)
Also, of the two mods I like the second:
#To my colleagues and peers across the industry
Ah, right- how does everyone feel about Tech Artist->Technical Artist? I am on the fence.
[QUOTE=Amorano;11611]Hey Rob, yeah I don’t think I explained what I meant with that too well.
Soft. engineer would have been a better analogy.
Point is that the truncated forms of the word: soft. for software, pipe. for pipeline i.e. Pipe. Engineer for Pipeline Engineer.
Is there a rationale to use the truncated form of Technical (Tech.) instead of the full form?
I just find that truncating the word Technical to Tech. doesn’t sound quite right to me.
I am all for inclusion! =)
Also, of the two mods I like the second:
#To my colleagues and peers across the industry[/QUOTE]
I’m with Alex (ha, just kidding… Alexander). :D: I think that a creed ought to have a sense of formality to it, and the use of the full word, “Technical,” would help to reinforce the creed’s formality.
I’m all for the convenience of the abbreviated form in most other contexts (e.g., tech-artists.org). There are some professional contexts though where I believe it may be in our best interests as TAs to emphasize the “technical” nature of our profession. This may, in some cases, mean a conscience effort to use the full form of the word, “technical”. I say this mainly because the more technical members of the industry tend to command more influence and, yes, pay.
We’re employed as Technical Artists, so I guess that’s the term it should be.
Though I’m not too sure ‘Technical Artist’ defines what we do on a day to day basis any more. But that’s for another thread…
Btw, I’m half expecting an MP3 of this creed in a HAL or Portal type voice to be posted any minute…
Paul
#I will approach every problem with mind and ears open
#To my colleagues and peers across the industry.
This is much better I think - It seems to me that the reason we are hired is to do our jobs, where the purpose of the creed is the promise that we will do our utmost to be the best tech artists we can be. The ‘I will do my job’ part of that becomes implied.
[QUOTE=Paul;11618]We’re employed as Technical Artists, so I guess that’s the term it should be.
Though I’m not too sure ‘Technical Artist’ defines what we do on a day to day basis any more. But that’s for another thread…
Btw, I’m half expecting an MP3 of this creed in a HAL or Portal type voice to be posted any minute…
Paul[/QUOTE]
I’m all for truncating it to tech artists. the hard “K” sound makes the flow of a line stumble a little bit, but it’s better than compounding the stop with extra syllables. Moreover, tech and technical are synonymous with each other, so the meaning isn’t changed 
Also Amorano, I kind of disagree with you, soft : software :: pipe : pipeline, but not as tech : technical. The difference is that soft and pipe are root words, they stand on their own as words with their own meanings completely seperate from the rest of the word. Tech on the other hand comes FROM technology or technical so if I say tech, we are both thinking in the same direction whereas if I say soft, you could be thinking about a blanket or something.
I’d prefer this as well:
#I will approach every problem with mind and ears open
#To my colleagues and peers across the industry.
I’m not a grammar expert, but there’s something bugging me about ending each first line with a comma. I feel like they should be periods, as the statement “I am a Tech Artist” can easily stand on its own, and it feels more … powerful?
I am a Tech Artist,
Every day I will teach, learn, and assist,
And build bridges between teams, people, and ideas.
I will observe without interrupting and mediate without judging.
I may not give exactly what you ask for,
But I will provide what you need.
I am a Tech Artist,
I will approach every problem with mind and ears open
To my colleagues and peers across the industry.
I will solve the problems of today,
Improve the solutions of yesterday,
And design the answers of tomorrow.
I am a Tech Artist,
I am a leader for my team,
And a standard-bearer for my community.
I will do what needs to be done,
I will advocate for what should be done,
And my decisions will be in the best interest of the production.
-After giving it consideration and reading it over and aloud, I’d like to keep Tech Artist over Technical Artist. It’s 6 syllables this creed doesn’t need.
-We’ll go with the ‘across the industry’ line choice for verse 2 lines 2/3. (Still open to suggestions).
-Byterunner- Would you prefer no punctuation at the end of the line at all? I don’t really like that. And a period would break the flow leading into the rest of the verse. I think we’re stuff with the maligned comma at this point.
The big question left is the last line. Obviously anything else is still up for discussion, but I think every comment should have something about the last line (even if it’s just to say you like it fine).
[QUOTE=Paul;11618]Btw, I’m half expecting an MP3 of this creed in a HAL or Portal type voice to be posted any minute…[/QUOTE]
Play all three at the same time…tech art army
tech artist > technical artist, imo.
I like the punctuation.
I feel like the last line is a little to rigid sounding. I’m not sure of a solution at this point, but I’ll think about it.
I asked my grammar-crazy teacher friend and she said it’s valid either way, so I’m okay with it as commas. I just didn’t want a grammatical (technical) error in our Tech Artist Creed.
I have an altdevblogaday post coming up and I want to post the creed. Any final suggestions?
I am a Tech Artist,
I am a leader for my team,
And a standard-bearer for my community.
I will do what needs to be done,
I will advocate for what must be done,
And my decisions should be in the best interest of the production.
Do those changes in bolt (should->must, will->should) make the last line better?
Tech Art
Why would you want to do that?
[QUOTE=Rob Galanakis;11911]I am a Tech Artist,
I am a leader for my team,
And a standard-bearer for my community.
I will do what needs to be done,
I will advocate for what must be done,
And my decisions should be in the best interest of the production.
Do those changes in bolt (should->must, will->should) make the last line better?[/QUOTE]
I think the last line’s should, should be will. It seems as though it leaves room to say: “Well, my decisions should be in the best interest, but, they might not be”. I’m probably being to technical with this though. I like the should->must change.
We could probably go back and forth on what sounds better for ages, but I think what we have now is awesome as is. :D:
Alright, post is up on altdevblogaday:
http://altdevblogaday.com/2011/08/26/the-tech-artists-creed/
Awesome. I’m glad it’s been finalized!
I know its already done… but how about “theres nothing stopping the best programmer from being the best artist too.”