1 / 59

Communication Scaling

Communication Scaling. Matthew Allen, Monolith Productions. Overview. This talk is focused on communication within a large team and the role of the “producers” on that team What is a large team? What the talk won’t be. Quick Poll. How many folks will you have on your team at peak size?

yitta
Download Presentation

Communication Scaling

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Communication Scaling Matthew Allen, Monolith Productions

  2. Overview • This talk is focused on communication within a large team and the role of the “producers” on that team • What is a large team? • What the talk won’t be

  3. Quick Poll • How many folks will you have on your team at peak size? • Under 20? • 20 - 40? • 40 – 80? • 80+ • Just for the hell of it • 150? • Less than 10?

  4. Defining a producer • A producer’s work product is a finished feature/task or final product • Their primary tool for completing this task is their ability to communicate

  5. Defining a producer • Who do they communicate with? • Within a functional group • Across groups/disciplines to other functional leaders • Across teams within multi-studio organizations • Upwards to management

  6. Defining a producer • Who within your organization is responsible for this stuff? • Most likely they don’t all have the word producer on their business card • At Monolith they are • Leads • Senior folks • Even a couple straight outtaDigipen

  7. Defining a producer • It’s very important to identify the 2 types of folks within the your organization who get shit done • The Glue, those who do everything in their power to assist and support the Do-ers • The Do-ers, those who are directly responsible for getting shit done • Often your producer types are Glue, but I have first hand knowledge of them being both

  8. A history lessonor why the hell is this guy talking to me? • Concept art • Lead character art • Only game animator • Lead artist • Technical/ FX • Producer??? • Hell no! • Primary art lead

  9. A history lessonor why the hell is this guy talking to me? 9

  10. A history lessonor why the hell is this guy talking to me? 15

  11. A history lessonor why the hell is this guy talking to me? 22

  12. A history lessonor why the hell is this guy talking to me? Other Internal Teams Core Tech Outsourcing Senior Management Art Leads Tools Team Team Leads Technical Design Vendor Relationships

  13. History Lesson part DeuxHoly crap your team got big!

  14. Effective Communication • Core rule set for effective communication • Know your subject • Trust • Consistency • Up & down • Adapt • Efficiency • Full team involvement

  15. Core Rules • Know your subject • This one is a no-brainer, right? • If you don’t know what you are talking about • stop fucking talking about it • get the people who do know together

  16. Core Rules • Trust • If there is no trust in the communicator, folks will either go around them, or go somewhere they can get trust • How do you build trust? • Be honest • Be as transparent as possible • Treat your audience with respect • Follow up!

  17. Core Rules • Consistency • Get your communicators on the same page • It’s perfectly OK to disagree, but in the end the task can only be finished one way at a time • Inconsistency is one of the fastest ways to break trust

  18. Core Rules • Up & down • You need the people in the trenches moving forward at all time, so you have to make sure they are in the loop • You need upper management in the loop so they don’t keep messing with you • This is really the #1 issue most producers screw up

  19. Core Rules • Adapt • You are dealing with lots of different types of people • Do really think they all communicate the same way? • Figure out the styles of the folks you are working with and cater to them

  20. Core Rules • Efficiency • Get to the point as quickly as possible • Summarize at the start, move on to the meat later • This is important when managing down since you don’t want to waste the time of the Do-ers • Equally important when communicating up, as the amount of data received grows exponentially when moving up a hierarchy

  21. Core Rules • Complete team involvement • Includeas many people as possible as often as possible • This doesn’t mean giant meetings, this means an efficient communication network

  22. Targets? • Core evangelists • The conduits for communication to flow up and down • Leads, producers, senior team members • Folk who have earned trust with the team • The communication path must start and end with your Do-ers

  23. Classifying Communication • Active communicationvs. passive communication • Active, or pull • You are going out to get data • Web, Facebook, forums, Flickr • Passive or push • Data is getting sent to you • Email, IM, face to face meetings

  24. Types of communication • Face to face • One-on-ones • Meetings • IM • Email • Prioritized hit lists • Play throughs • Confluence • Status updates

  25. Types of communication • Face to face • One-on-ones • Meetings • Goal oriented • Send out the agenda first • Keep ‘em short • If it has to go longer, adjourn • http://tobytripp.github.com/meeting-ticker/ • Follow up is brutally necessary

  26. Types of communication • IM • Great way to quickly ask a single question, get a fast answer, and keep working • All external IM clients are not secure or private

  27. Types of communication • Email • I don’t really need to explain • Things to think about • Be concise, put the meat at the end or attached • Know your audience • Don’t let them become noise • They are not a permanent, traceable, or searchable record

  28. Types of communication • Prioritized hit lists

  29. Types of communication • Play throughs • Goal oriented • Send out the agenda first • What are we playing • What are evaluating • What type of feedback is required • Keep them as short as possible • Look familiar? Treat them like meetings

  30. Types of communication • Wikis • In the olden days we called this “documentation” • Great way to communicate to those outside the strike teams • Confluence • Forums • Push notification • embedded Excel and Word docs

  31. Types of communication • Status Update Emails • Aww crap that’s huge …

  32. Types of communication • Status Update Emails • Executive summary • Key personnel • Key dates • Upcoming dates

  33. Types of communication • Status Update Emails • Updates • Key updates from last summary

  34. Types of communication • Status Update Emails • Issues and risks • Summarized and only the urgent level risks

  35. Types of communication • Status Update Emails • Key dates • Key dates for the entire projects • Milestones • Vertical slice • Alpha, Beta • Street date

  36. Types of communication • Status Update Emails • Discipline updates • Very detailed updates per discipline

  37. Types of communication • Status Update Emails • Strike Team Updates • Functional team updates

  38. Types of communication • Status Update Emails • Detailed risk list • Go into much further depth with the risks to the projects • Include mitigations and escalation dates

  39. Types of communication • Status Update Emails • Next Milestone • List of all deliverables

  40. Types of communication • Status Update Emails • Aww crap that’s huge … • But completely manageable, and totally worth it

  41. FEAR 2 • FEAR 2 team is huge, game needs to get done • Key stake holders identified • In face to face meetings and play throughs • Identify missing features and functionality • Discuss strategies for attacking and completing those features • Post all notes to Confluence and encourage forum discussion

  42. FEAR 2 • Once features were identified, strike teams were formed • Strike teams took full ownership of the feature • Smaller more manageable communication paths • Decisions were not bottlenecked with a few key individuals • Not everyone is created equal, the need for an approvals process

  43. FEAR 2 • Main push: level strike teams • 4 level strike teams • Permanent mix of design and art • Daily face to face meetings and play throughs, generating hit lists that lived on Confluence • Moved the team members into the same area to expedite communication

  44. FEAR 2 • Main push: level strike teams • Floating content strike team • Containing FX, animation, tech art • Consultants • “Contractors” • Hit lists, IM, Confluence, some face to face

  45. FEAR 2 • Main push: level strike teams • Had to be self sufficient and self motivated • A good mix of junior and senior folks • A good proving ground for senior people wanting to try out being a lead

  46. FEAR 2 • Main push: level strike teams • The approvals process • Play throughsof level • Predetermined intervals • Key contributors • One-on-ones with principal designers if issues popped up • Weekly a level was singled out for the team to play • Hit list, Confluence, face to face if issues were big enough

  47. FEAR 2 • Other strike teams • Weapons • Characters • UI • Core combat • A smaller team for each AI type, 4 AI engineers • A larger group for core AI functionality • Clichéd scary girl moments • Really anything that could be broken into a functional group, and could be owned

  48. FEAR 2 • Let’s talk about the owners • Usually called strike team leads • Face to face every morning • Triage cross group issues, moved to Confluence • Who was finished? • Who was needed?

  49. FEAR 2 • End game • Different strike teams • Still level based • Polish team • Performance • Memory • Certification • Daily game play throughs, both as a group and as individuals • Lather, rinse, repeat, ship.

  50. FEAR 2What did we learn? • Spread responsibility as wide as possible • Empowerment! • Give people the tools and support they need to make cool shit • Core individuals as shit filters and course correctors

More Related