Game Design Week 5 – Thoughts on the Scrum Process
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We are fast approaching the Beta checkpoint in this Game design course. The snow still lies heavy outside, enforcing the feeling of harsh winter. For many, the longer something drags out, be that a season or a project, motivation and positivity can begin to dwindle. In the group I am a part of this has begun to show somewhat, not that we were a perfect bunch from the start, but I think we are getting weary. What has helped us stay on track production wise can partially be attributed to the method we have been working after – scrum. The basic idea with scrum is to keep every one on the same page at all times, working in short sprints, thus keeping things fresh in memory, and with steady evaluation of the situation. In the beginning of the course this was a little bit of a pain; it felt unnecessary, over-complicated for something simple, and not useful for the group. This might have been the case, but I do not think it was useless in the long run at all. We built up a routine that would – and will – stick the entire course, organizing us now in the later stages, because I think now is the time it is helping us the most. Having this structure with short and visible goals and constant feedback from team mates has helped somewhat is group morale. The sprint retrospect meetings have also helped with clearly laying out a strategy to find things that might drag the team down. It is not impossible for a team to have these sorts of conversations without the use of scrum, that is entirely possible, but I think it would be a lot harder to keep up the longer a project would go on. It also prohibits potential conflict by making space for discussions about “blockers”, topics that might have not come up in a normal discussion because a team member does not want to risk bringing it up. Not everyone might feel this way about scrum, but I do think scrum helps teams in the long run , both for communication and motivation. As a result, our team has been talking a bit about things we can do together to simply enjoys each others company more, aside from work. When snow is coming down heavy outside, the time is prefect to have a snowball fight or ride pulka. Enjoy a nice picture of Team Troll for now.   |