I wanted to let you know that we have added three new podcasts/YouTube vids on risk and issue management within the game making process. This was my first time attempting to do this, so please forgive the rather awkward video footage. I also realise that I sound like I am scolding people when you only have the podcast to rely upon! Never mind.
There are three parts to the risk management series, but I could have gone on for much longer. I wanted to keep it as short as possible and as useful as possible for the newer producers who need a bit of an idea why to log and pay attention to risks and issues. I also wanted to walk through some simple examples and leave a few templates.
This is NOT a comprehensive guide for the senior level producers and above, who probably would be expecting to delve far deeper into Moria than I was prepared. There is no talk of how we should approach Design docs, or what happens when you realise that you are going to be a year or two late. We can talk about that later.
I am excited that we can at least start contributing to each other. I have four podcast interviews booked for the next week so far, but hope for more to confirm. If we get the chance to talk around risks and issues I'll start work on a more comprehensive piece using those conversations. If you have anything yourself to contribute, that is the whole point - so please do contribute! Get in touch!
So anyway, you can choose podcast or video depending upon your penchance for bald-headed blokes droning on.
Part One:
A general chat around risk management for those involved in making video games. This is an introduction to the topic and is aimed at game producers.
Topics covered include:
- Why should you take risks and issues more seriously when making a game?
- What does risk management in the gaming world look like?
- What are risks and issues anyway?
- Why Risk and Issue logs are so useful
- How to tie in to Leadership meetings to really make this all useful
- Complexity of game making affecting risks/issues
- Example of how plans change, dependencies arise, etc and how your log can track this and assist in planning
- Producer accountability
- Continuous improvement of you and your team(s)
- Conversations, collaboration and transparency that arise for a positive approach to risk management
- Following through and taking action: how this leads to gaining trust, faith and momentum
Part 2 goes into more detail on actual risk and issue examples
Topics covered in Part 2 include:
02:39 High level risks
06:19 Staffing risks
12:32 Schedule & Budget Risks
19:20 Inadequate specs (I decided to skip talking about Design specs here as that deserves its own section some other time)
24:37 Fun Factor
33:46 Change management
38:20 Expectations of third parties such as publishers
40:40 Summary
Part 3 is a walkthrough of generating a Risk and Issue Log that you can download and use/abuse at your leisure.
You can find the links if you click on the Podcast or Videos section on the website. It would be wonderful if you could leave comments, subscribe to the YouTube channel, like and the like. Thank you!