Responding to a work estimation query on the Game Production Community Discord channel (https://discord.gg/gameproduction), these are my thoughts on the WHY, WHO FOR, etc around the topic. I don't go into detail around actual estimation, but use this to explore a whole range of influencing topics. It's all about gathering information, great communication and delivering value. Apologies for the lack of interesting visual content - you might prefer to just listen at 1.5x and go do something else with your eyeballs ;) I also didn't edit out any belches or cock-ups. Please let me know what you would like covered in more detail and I'll find some production friends to come help out with answering your questions. Liam ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TOPICS COVERED: 1. High Level 00:00:00 Introduction 00:02:00 Why are we estimating work? 00:04:00 Who are we estimating for? 00:06:45 At what stage of the game have we reached? 00:15:37 Is the team within a discipline or cross-departmental? 00:19:32 What system are we using to record estimates? 00:23:04 What methodology are we using? 00:26:46 Agile and story points vs time estimation (I meant Fibonacci sequence!) 00:34:00 Inefficiencies of time estimations at different levels 00:35:35 Top level estimations vs Task by Task estimations 00:40:00 Discovery vs Grinding phases 00:48:20 Art differences when estimating 00:55:00 Design differences when estimating 01:01:50 Engineering differences when estimating 01:06:10 Roadmap vs plan estimations 2. Bit more detailed 01:10:20 Hours vs days 01:13:20 Build in admin time or strictly work only? 01:18:15 Are we using time remaining or total time used? 01:23:26 Sub-tasks or user stories? 01:24:40 Still remembering the WHY? 01:26:25 Should you build in safety margins? 01:30:35 Should you take into account individual accuracy? 01:32:05 Consistent estimating within and across teams 01:33:23 Are you helping or hindering? Dependency tracking.. 01:35:30 Learning through listening ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and all that malarkey. Comments are welcome, even rude ones. If you want to help, then please make contact at the website and help out! We welcome contributors. For more articles and interviews with producers and others in the games industry, check out: http://www.game-production.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ABOUT GAME PRODUCTION ACADEMY Our Vision is to enable games industry professionals to plan better, lead better and stop the crunch culture, through building a community of support, knowledge and training. Please visit the website, which exists as a place to gather and chat, swap ideas and learn from each other, accumulate expertise and even accreditation. We are gradually building a library of podcasts, videos, training, articles and guides. Please join us. http://www.game-production.com FOLLOW US: https://www.game-production.com/

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. If you prefer the podcast version, you can find that here: https://www.game-production.com/podcast/episode/4a84cfa5/11-risk-management-for-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. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d9CSoy_z3w Part 3 is a walkthrough of generating a Risk and Issue Log that you can download and use/abuse at your leisure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PljB6IBZW2w&t=421s I mentioned some other articles on risk management for gaming. Here they are: https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/131309/risk_management_with_development_.php https://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/191523/managing_risk_in_video_game_.php Please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and all that malarkey. Comments are welcome, even rude ones. If you think you can do better then please make contact at the website and help out! We welcome contributors. For more articles and interviews with producers and others in the games industry, check out: http://www.game-production.com ABOUT GAME-PRODUCTION.COM Our Vision is to enable games industry professionals to plan better, lead better and stop the crunch culture, through building a community of support, knowledge and training. Please visit the website, which exists as a place to gather and chat, swap ideas and learn from each other, accumulate expertise and even accreditation. We are gradually building a library of podcasts, videos, training, articles and guides. Please join us. http://www.game-production.com FOLLOW US: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gameproductioncommunity Website: https://www.game-production.com/

Part 2 goes into more detail on actual risk and issue examples. I have based the categories on the only current academic research I could find on the topic. You can read that in full here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/262250152_Risk_Management_in_Video_Game_Development_Projects If you would prefer the podcast version, you can find that here: https://www.game-production.com/podcast/episode/4b296c6c/12-risk-and-issues-examples-for-game-producers 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 1, a more general introduction around risk management in the game industry, can be found here: https://youtu.be/Mh_WsEYr8WY Part 3 is a walkthrough of generating a Risk and Issue Log that you can download and use/abuse at your leisure. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PljB6IBZW2w&t=421s Please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and all that malarkey. Comments are welcome, even rude ones. If you think you can do better then please make contact at the website and help out! We welcome contributors. For more articles and interviews with producers and others in the games industry, check out: http://www.game-production.com ABOUT GAME-PRODUCTION.COM Our Vision is to enable games industry professionals to plan better, lead better and stop the crunch culture, through building a community of support, knowledge and training. Please visit the website, which exists as a place to gather and chat, swap ideas and learn from each other, accumulate expertise and even accreditation. We are gradually building a library of podcasts, videos, training, articles and guides. Please join us. http://www.game-production.com FOLLOW US: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gameproductioncommunity Website: https://www.game-production.com/

Part 3 is a walkthrough of generating a Risk and Issue Log that you can download and use/abuse at your leisure. If you would prefer the podcast version, you can find that here: https://www.game-production.com/podcast/episode/4b32fe95/13-risk-management-walkthrough Here's the links to those files as promised: Excel https://1drv.ms/x/s!Aqnki7UtWwaHrWlhLwLMNYCyOKyu?e=TGjb0E Google Sheets https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1kb2zIGHkIyamABMbPFKJ_gPQJxamw-YrjPhUXipw_Ag/edit?usp=sharing Part 1, a more general introduction around risk management in the game industry, can be found here: https://youtu.be/Mh_WsEYr8WY Part 2 goes into more detail on actual risk and issue examples. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d9CSoy_z3w&t=15s Please LIKE, SUBSCRIBE and all that malarkey. Comments are welcome, even rude ones. If you think you can do better then please make contact at the website and help out! We welcome contributors. For more articles and interviews with producers and others in the games industry, check out: http://www.game-production.com ABOUT GAME-PRODUCTION.COM Our Vision is to enable games industry professionals to plan better, lead better and stop the crunch culture, through building a community of support, knowledge and training. Please visit the website, which exists as a place to gather and chat, swap ideas and learn from each other, accumulate expertise and even accreditation. We are gradually building a library of podcasts, videos, training, articles and guides. Please join us. http://www.game-production.com FOLLOW US: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/gameproductioncommunity Website: https://www.game-production.com/