While they were frequent adversaries, Looney Tunes antagonist Wile E. Coyote’s biggest enemy was not the Road Runner.
In his autobiography, Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist, the creator of Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner Chuck Jones, shares the nine simple rules that every cartoon featuring these two characters had to follow.
Rule #8: “Wherever possible, make gravity the coyote’s greatest enemy.”
Chuck Jones was the visionary behind these fast and furry-ous characters, but they were brought to cartoon life by a team that played by the rules.
While there is some debate as to when Chuck Jones introduced his nine rules, over 48 shorts have been made featuring this duo from 1949 to 2014 and all of them hold the positive tension between consistency and creativity.
Too many rules, especially complex ones, risk becoming red tape that can lead to bureaucratic theatre and organizational debt.
However, a set of clear, concise, and simple rules, like Chuck Jones’ set of nine, can:
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align a team
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illuminate the too often unnamed and unspoken rules (i.e. the “shoulds”)
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focus and facilitate execution
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create beautiful constraints and set boundaries
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provide a cohesive framework for decision-making
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provide team members with edges to push off of creatively and latitude to exercise their discretion and creativity
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give rise to complex and intelligent behavior and strategy
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make it easier for all team members to share in and contribute to a collective creative vision
How might playing by a set of clear, concise, and simple rules help your team to collaborate, create, and innovate?
