I've been making games professionally for many years. I always joke that I started as a fetus. I have been a Producer for about 18 years. I have seen some of the oddest methods of game development on the PLANET. What makes it worse, I have been subject to them as a "job requirement".
One of my favorite mistakes involves using Microsoft Excel as a project tracking tool. I have seen this a number of times, to various levels of success. One place used it as a place to hold the tasks. Another used it to track the tasks they followed as a procedure. Another place had it to the expert level of using macros to estimate accuracy of the schedules they were given by team members.
This just in: Excel is a FINANCIAL FORECASTING TOOL. Please use the proper tool for the job.
While I won't sit here and lecture about how great MS Project is for the game industry, its at least designed to solve the problem presented.
What scares me most is the adoption of Scrum. I love Scrum really. I did a podcast, (find it at www.aboutmakinggames.com) all about Scrum with an expert on the subject. But please, lets not use the fact that Scrum works with lists of items as an excuse to continue using Excel!
Please Please
One of my favorite mistakes involves using Microsoft Excel as a project tracking tool. I have seen this a number of times, to various levels of success. One place used it as a place to hold the tasks. Another used it to track the tasks they followed as a procedure. Another place had it to the expert level of using macros to estimate accuracy of the schedules they were given by team members.
This just in: Excel is a FINANCIAL FORECASTING TOOL. Please use the proper tool for the job.
While I won't sit here and lecture about how great MS Project is for the game industry, its at least designed to solve the problem presented.
What scares me most is the adoption of Scrum. I love Scrum really. I did a podcast, (find it at www.aboutmakinggames.com) all about Scrum with an expert on the subject. But please, lets not use the fact that Scrum works with lists of items as an excuse to continue using Excel!
Please Please
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