A Cog in the Cosmic Machine
A narrative based resource management game for Bradley University's FUSE Showcase.
Overview
When: August 2020 - Present
Role: 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 4 times 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
Explanation:
• Image 1: Original milestone timeline given to me by my professors
• Image 2: 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
• Image 3: 2021 Q1 sprints created in Hansoft
- I learned Hansoft for this project as many AAA companies such as Volition and EA use it
• Image 4: 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
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
Explanation:
Image 1 and 2: Team Meetings (Tue / Thu)
• Quick stand-ups by leads
• Made announcements
• Communicated information from professors to teammates
Image 3 and 4: Lead Meetings (Wed / Sat)
• Detailed stand-ups with leads
• Made high level decisions with leads
Reflection:
• Powerpoints 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
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
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