Dev Blog #4 -The Unseen Work of a Producer

Hello again!

This is the last week before the beta deadline for the first year students’ upcoming Shoot ’em Up games, so I thought this was a good time to talk about the unseen work of the production. By unseen work I mean things that don’t produce tangible results the same way art and code does.

As a producer of a small team I need to wear many hats, but the majority of the work I do can’t be seen or measured, and it doesn’t reflect on the updated game versions (Some of my work does show up in the game, but that’s because one of my hats is that of a back-up artist). Your results doesn’t get checked off a feature backlog and they generally don’t get quality assurance from anyone but yourself. At times this has made me feel like a fifth wheel to my team; they produce actual things that you can look at and listen to, combining their work to actually make a game, while no one knows what I am doing. I try to be as transparent as possible with my work and keep my team updated, but I don’t think they find it very interesting.

My tasks include organising sprint planning meetings, sprint review meetings, daily stand-ups (and also trying to actually get people to show up to them!), any other meetings such as to work together in the same area, keeping an eye on the backlog, whip team members who needs extra motivation, prepare presentations and keep the team updated as well as reminding them of everything that is going on and needs to be done. For example I keep reminding everyone to write their blogs and help them find the posts they will comment on. Organising meetings mean I set the time, date and location, and during them I lead and ask questions as well as providing answers to any questions popping up. Some meetings are lead by other team members however, these are meetings where we brainstorm ideas and design things as a group. I keep our product backlog updated and reference it to keep both myself and the group aware of what we have left to do.

The job of a producer is often compared to that of an umbrella, we are the shields of our teams and do our best to allow everyone else to work unhindered and efficiently by removing obstacles and helping wherever we can. I suppose it is possible that the fact that my team doesn’t know what I’m doing could be a sign that I am performing this role well. I have run into problems, however, regarding the leadership. Because I used to be a very shy person who wouldn’t ever speak in class or dare to face a cashier, being in a leadership role has been intimidating. I am still finding my voice, figuratively and literally, and this has clearly impacted my team performance. My members have shown concern over my laid back attitude and lack of orders, asking me to be stricter for example. I was well aware of the possibility of these issues appearing beforehand, but I still did my best to adress them, despite being way out of my comfort zone. I had already tried my best to get people to do things or show up to meeting, even texting them reminders, but I guess they could sense that I was out on deep waters and didn’t take me too seriously.

I have improved since we started out with our concept documents though. Some changes I have made to adress these issues have been to be stricter and demand things, rather than ask for them. I have also allowed myself to show my dismay when things have been disregarded, or tasks haven’t been completed on time. This has both helped me grow as a person, as well as increase the efficiency within the team, which I consider a win.