This summer I attended an inspiring and highly informative lecture at BCU's TIC (Birmingham City University Technology Innovation Centre). The lecture was given by Steve Stopps, a project manger at Blitz Games, and was entitled "producers dont do anything, so why are they so important"? The lecture covered everything from development costs to time management.
Steve opened the lecture by addressing the growing role of the project manager within the games industry.
Starting with over all production costs Steve explained the rapidly increasing costs of computer game production. Average Wii development takes 18 months has a team size of 20 - 30 people and a cost of $25 million. This may seem high however, when compared to that of
Xbox 360 and PS3 $80 million it is clear to see why the Wii is the fastest expanding games catalogue.
He then addressed the roles contained within the studio. That of the Project Manager (or producer) Design (Designers) , Art (Artist) and Tech (Programmers).
The emphasise was placed on the role of the Project Manager. It is a Project Managers role to "free the creatives to do what they do do best". It is paramount that the Project Manager should not be the creative vision holder. The reason for this being that it is best for a Project Manager to be able to view the project from an external point of view. They must also be able to offer constructive criticism and concise feedback.
He then went on to talk about the Time,Scope,Cost Equilateral Triangle. This is a way of explaining that if you change one of the sides all of the other sides must change too as a result. In other words if you wish to increase Scope then you must increase Cost and Time also. It must stay equilateral.
Steve also talked of X and Y managers. These are two different management styles, (for a full explanation click here). Essentially the theory entails that X managers work by being the enforcer, where as Y managers work by being the supporter. This is illustrated in the following Diagram.
Two things that Steve said that truly stuck out in my mind was that, firstly, a manager "should take responsibility for everything, credit for nothing". The reason for this being that it leads to trust. Secondly " A creative project is never finished; it's abandoned". I think anybody creative or indeed has worked with creative people can empathise with that.
Also he made it apparent that using SCRUM management (A well established management theory) we can understand the difference between the involved and the committed or the pigs and chickens. I feel this comic strip illustrates the theory perfectly.
He also believed that end users expectations where changing as they gain a better understanding of the system being built. Marketing will also require change, as to them the market is feature driven , where as it is now content driven.
"The longer the project the more it will change."
In this section he touched on development scheduling and time scale.
Months: 1-5 Pre production
6-12 Production
13-18 Post production
The average 8 hour working day: Email 1 hours
Meetings 1 hour
Training 1 hour
Which leads to a 5 hours actual working day. Meaning you should always allow contingency
low risk: + 20%
medium risk: + 40%
High risk: + 60%
Pro's of contingency: better retention of key personnel, increased organisational agility, an improved ability to invest in the future
Cons: Adds alot of additional cost
Ultimately a manager should ask three questions, what did you do yesterday? What are you doing today? Is there anything stopping you?
Since attending the lecture I've been in touch with Steve Stopps on a few occasions now, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank him for his help and advice.
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