Square Enix Game Development Project Management Course

http://www.jp.square-enix.com/tech/openconference/library/2011/dldata/PM/PM.pdf

• Game Development Project Management Course by Square Enix

• The first half (up to slide 170) was extremely valuable (blu3mo)(blu3mo)

  • It felt like gaining the necessary mindset and prerequisites one should know before learning frameworks like PMBOK.

• The latter half (171 onwards) also contains good information, but it focuses more on game development-specific topics.

Here are some rough notes from (blu3mo) (probably more beneficial to read the slides if you have time):

• Even with a plan in place, there is a lot of uncertainty leading to deviations in results
  • 
  • (Initial plan compared to 10 times more)

  • Although this is a rough calculation, it gives an idea of how significant errors can be different from intuition.

• Common approaches include
  • 

• In other words, accurate predictions for a project are nearly impossible.

• While predictions may be uncertain, control is possible
• Speeding up the iteration of the PDC is crucial
  • It makes sense when you hear it, but I feel like I rarely achieve it in most cases (blu3mo)
• Additionally, just iterating may not be sufficient
• By learning project management (including Agile), can one handle projects more significant than a doghouse?

Do not escape from investigation, strategy, design, and planning!

• It seems crucial to conduct thorough preliminary research and then iterate quickly (blu3mo)
• Rapid iteration should not be an excuse to avoid preparation
  • That’s true (blu3mo)(blu3mo)(blu3mo)
  • It resonates

• Diligently do the obvious preparations

• That is the key to mastering uncertainty

• Investigation

  • Uncover risks and potential issues as much as possible

• Strategy

  • “Alertness”
  • Development Strategy Matrix
    • The way it’s divided, I thought, “That makes sense.”
    • However, without knowing this framework, it might be challenging to think this way when actually running a project.

• Design

• Planning

  • Two-Point Estimation

    • Represented by two numbers, e.g., ○ hours to ○ hours or ○ days to ○ days

    • Two-point estimation is highly effective from a psychological perspective, suitable for maintaining motivation, and very useful during analysis

    • 
      • Having clear definitions is also crucial
    • Parkinson’s Law

      • “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion,” a phenomenon that always seems to happen (blu3mo)(blu3mo)

• Usually, discrepancies only become apparent when they actually occur, so it’s actually a good thing if discrepancies are found even when no work has been done.

  • It’s important not to overlook discrepancies (blu3mo)(blu3mo)

• Recommended Books as of 2011

• “Understanding Project Management through Manga”

  • • A manga digest of the PM world standard PMBOK

• “Agile Samurai”

  • • An easy-to-read Agile book

• “Achieving Overall Optimal Project Management in the Shortest Time”

  • • Understanding CCPM

• “XP Extreme Programming Implementation Plan”- Understand the plan in XP

  • Learn about Scrum

• “Agile Software Development Scrum”

  • Learn about Scrum

• “Agile Game Development with Scrum”

  • Practical examples of Scrum in game development

• “Agile Estimation and Planning”

  • Highly recommended and closely aligned with the way of thinking
  • It is thick and advanced, so it is best to read it last
  • Link to the document