A Cog in the Cosmic Machine
A narrative based resource management game for Bradley University's FUSE Showcase
When: August 2020 - Present
Roles: Producer 
Team Size: 22 people
Tasks:
• Implemented JIRA & SCRUM into the production pipeline.
--organized and scheduled tasks for team members for 6 milestones, across 12 sprints, over the course of a year and a half.
--Utilized burndown charts after each sprint.
--Held standups, sprint retrospective/planning meetings.
• Ran team and discipline leads meetings 4x a week.
• Clarified communication, messaging, and organizational issues from team members and solved them. Removed any and all bottlenecks.
Visual Examples of Production: 
Sprint / Schedule Planning 
(1) Deadlines
(1) Deadlines
(2) Alpha Sprint Schedule
(2) Alpha Sprint Schedule
(3) Roadmap (Hansoft)
(3) Roadmap (Hansoft)
(4) Sprint Example (JIRA)
(4) Sprint Example (JIRA)
Explanation:
(1st image) 
Original milestone timeline given to me by my professors.

(2nd image) 
One example of a milestone sprint schedule I created for my team.

End dates for each sprint were on days right before playtesting/milestone turn in days to maximize time.

(3rd image) 
 2021 Q1 sprints created in Hansoft.
-I learned Hansoft for this project as many AAA companies such as Volition and EA use it.

(4th image) 
 An example sprint with a Kanban board containing detailed tickets.

Reflection:
Having a detailed sprint schedule made scope control much easier to determine.

Utilizing sprints in JIRA and roadmaps in Hansoft made communication clearer.
Burndown Charts:
Sprint 6
Sprint 6
Sprint 3
Sprint 3
Sprint 5
Sprint 5
Sprint 1
Sprint 1
Explanation:  
 Created burndown charts in JIRA for 8+ sprints.

⚫ Assigned storypoints in tickets to track how much work can be done in a sprint based on previous charts.

The Fibonacci sequence was used (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13) to determine storypoint values.
-Ex: 1 = 1 hour | 5 = 1 day | 13 = the whole sprint

⚫ Each sprint was named after a bird as our team is named after one.
-Ex: Sprint 1 = Albatros | Sprint 2 = Blue Footed Bobby | Sprint 4 = Doodoo


Reflection:
Problems: Tickets were either not moved or not completed in a steady pace. This resulted in crunch.
Solution: Make moving tickets in JIRA part of stand-ups and break down tickets further.
Meetings:
All Team Meetings
All Team Meetings
An Example Slide from our Lead Meetings
An Example Slide from our Lead Meetings
All Lead Meetings
All Lead Meetings
An Example Slide from our Lead Meetings
An Example Slide from our Lead Meetings
Explanation:
(Top images)
Team Meetings (Tue / Thu): 
-Quick stand-ups by leads.
- Made announcements.
-Communicated information from professors to teammates.

(Bottom images)
Lead Meetings (Wed / Sat): 
- Detailed stand-ups with leads.
- Made high level decisions with leads. 

Reflection:
Power-Points helped create a detailed archive of work for each week

Each meeting made decision making and dissemination of information very quick and efficient.
Role Sheets:
Role Sheet for Art
Role Sheet for Art
Role Sheet for Audio
Role Sheet for Audio
Explanation:
Created role sheets with each lead.

Clarified roles and responsibilities for each lead and discipline.

⚫ Each lead had to sign off on every role sheet to show they agreed on each disciplines roles and responsibilities

Reflection:
Role sheets acted as an unbiased source to help settle disputes about responsibilities.
Asset Lists:
Asset List for Art
Asset List for Art
Asset List for Programming
Asset List for Programming
Asset List for UX
Asset List for UX
Explanation:
⚫ I created the framework for each sheet in Google Sheets.

⚫ Each sheet contained basic asset information (name/description/status).

⚫ Each asset had to be approved by relevant leads.

Reflection:
⚫ Asset lists greatly increased communication and clarity on goals and priorities.

⚫ Lead approval increased accountability.
Recap Video:
Explanation:
⚫ A video that showcased the progress made throughout the year.

⚫ I created this video and all the images in it were taken from a database I created.  
Reflection:
⚫ Lots of claps, cheers, and tears after my teammates watched it.
Lots of people mentioned that this video inspired them to continue working hard and helped reduce their burnout.
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