At Pixar, Catmull probed both systems and processes, after both wins and stumbles. How should the feedback process, for example, be adjusted so a director is given the most valuable possible input, in a form most likely to be well received? Artists tend to hate feedback from suits or marketers or anyone outside their species, but they welcome it from thoughtful peers. So at Pixar, every director receives private feedback on their project from an advisory group of other directors—and, in turn, serves on similar groups for other directors.
