Industry Peeves and Problems

Showster

Hi guys I just wanted to start a discussion regarding some of the issues which slow your team and projects down.

I've recently come out of the industry and gone into teaching. I'm planning some papers for students at the moment and would like to know your thoughts regarding what would help people applying for positions in the next 5 years or so.

I'm interested in many aspects of the biz, and currently trying to push a paper for a project which will to simulate an industry team (as best as it can).

This thread applies to coders, designers and artists alike.

so for example...

do more people need to be aware of?

project planning (fluctuating to a clients demand)
art fundamentals (to many technians not enough artists?)
coding in teams (use of source safe / team severs)

Hope its interesting for you lot

Cheers

Ramucho

art fundamentals is TEH W1N;
Our school for exemple still see 3d people as dumb button pushers....

hawken

bah, let the project manager handle it

danr

flucuating to a clients demands is 15.7% of the schedule (trust me, i've done the maths, i can get decimal on your ass)

the biggest thing is getting *everyone talking to each other. Don't take "talking" literally, its a catch-all phrase for communication that can either sink or swim a project or company.

Rick Stirling

I wanted to add a comment about talking and communication. Email is great as you fire off a short message to someone, but getting off your arse and walking across the room and talking to someone is so much more productive.

Firstly you get to know more people, and you often bypass a load of 'guff'.

Trust, me this works. Telling a programmer they have nice hair and that shirt really suits them helps too.

as to your other points, I've had a look through all my notes, and cannot find anything I've already written on these topics.

danr

gay up to your coder as much as you want as Rick suggests ... but if he has the air of cuntishness surrounding him that pervades 97% of the population, back yourself up with an email. Get your point *down

oXYnary

Showster would this help?
http://www.igda.org/academia/curriculum_framework.php

Showster

Cheers oxynary nice information.

Thanks for the information guys so as it stands I need to teach students how to hump coders and talk to people with nice shirts ;-)

Ruz

One of my colleagues divides us up in to 'cunts' or 'twats'
I am considered a twat, which is not as bad as a cunt IMHO
As for telling a coder he has nice hair or nice shirt, that would just be a lie.

Also to address Ricks point.Talking is cool, but If you send an email, you can prove that you adressed a certain issue if it comes back to haunt you later.

Rick Stirling

[ QUOTE ]
As for telling a coder he has nice hair or nice shirt, that would just be a lie.

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course. But they are socially inept so can't figure that out.

Dravalen

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
As for telling a coder he has nice hair or nice shirt, that would just be a lie.

[/ QUOTE ]

Of course. But they are socially inept so can't figure that out.

[/ QUOTE ]

Come on now, not all of us are *that* bad

Kinda supprised no one has mentioned crunch yet, for good or bad it still happens in a good majority of places. Ditto what Rick said about talking with people. I prefer it over IM/Email.

[edit]
Forgot one thing, this applies more to coders but it's a good idea to follow it anyway. When you first get in make a point to not screw up other people's work. Nothing can get you off on the wrong foot more than making your first couple checkins and breaking something someone else was working on.

Rick Stirling

The only notes I currently have on Crunch - they are about 18 months old so I may not agree with them anymore:

Crunch time
Ah, crunch time. Crunch time is when you forget what your family and friends look like and end up smelling like a tramp. Crunch time is the period at the end of EVERY project, or before most deadlines or milestones when people realise that they won't meet the deadline unless they put in some overtime. Sorry to say, but I have never worked on a project with no crunch time. This is always put down to bad project planning on the part of the management by all the staff, and by poor project management on the part of the staff by all the management. It is generally a mix of both.


Wind down
So many people forget about the wind down period. Perhaps that is because it isn't the most common thing in this industry. The wind down is when you have just completed a project and haven't started a new one. Basically, you have nothing to do, and while that might sound wonderful, after just a few short days it becomes hard to handle. Think about it, the end of most projects have a crunch time where you end up working 14 hours a day for 7 days a week, then suddenly you have NOTHING to do. NOTHING, but you still have to come to work. Very often it is just one group of people that have finished - usually the artist finish just before the programmers. You all come in, but have to behave because the coders are STILL working 14 hours days. Even when you have all finished it can be bad. If you don't know what project you will be working on next, some people begin to think there is no other project, and this paranoia easily spreads.

JO420

Proper QA, big peeve of mine. After re texturing sometime for the 4th time due to technical issues which should have been picked prior to me getting a model to texture.

Ruz

poor communication and bad management are a big peeve of mine.
I wonder how mnay art managers actually have attended any kind of management course.
I also hate it when not very good artists end up in positions of authority, because that creates not only resentment, but also makes quality control a huge issue