Noise2Signal

Own it, don’t groan it.

Recently I partook in a fireside chat with a bunch of seasoned project managers from around the country. OK it was a pub but there was a fireplace. Plus lots of beer.

Inevitably discussion gravitated to all the problems and heart aches that we have each been apart of over the years. War stories if you will. At first it was fun to talk about what went wrong on this project or who had the hardest time doing this particular job or that one. After a while though I found myself getting frustrated. I think in part this was due to the lack of rum in my glass but mostly it had to do with the fact that almost all of the stories revolved around the project person feeling as if they were never in control of the destiny of the production.

Typical anecdotes were things like, “ I told the Producer that was a bad idea. They didn’t listen and look what happened”. I am sure that all project managers have been in a position like this. One where they feel their voice is not being heard and that they know the s**t is going to hit the fan but feel powerless to stop it.

Like everyone else there I agreed and would pat them on the shoulder in an attempt to comfort them. I of course had a few of my own experiences to add into the pile. At this point I started an internal reflection process. This is where my frustration began.

Years ago when I first started managing projects I had a sign above my desk that said, “I am at the mercy of forces beyond my control”. At the time I started I knew of no schools or books that taught how to manage projects in the world of entertainment. I think I took on the job because A; I wanted it and B; no one else did.

Like all jobs in the industry I learned most of what to do by working under others with more experience. Learning both the good and the bad. I suspect it took longer to realize what were the bad habits than the good.

The reason I had that sign was many. Mainly I felt that I was only paid to do the task that I was given. I had no real control. The task being, managing large teams and budgets within a timeline that was immovable. The problem that I constantly came across was that the timeline/budget often seemed to be unrealistic or even impossible. No matter what, we had to get the project done with the budget and people allocated to it in the time that was given yet this rarely seemed to take place.  Delays or costs would increase. Stress was palpable among us all. 

I read a paper recently that stated over 60% of all projects fail in some way, either due to cost over runs or delays. This isn’t an excuse. Just some perspective.

The great thing about making mistakes or being part of them is that, if you can weather it, you can learn from them. At the end of every project I would do a post mortem on the project as well as what I thought I did or didn’t do on it. I tried to be as objective as possible. Not an easy task if you have any sort of self-confidence issues.

The first big mistake I had to own up to was the simple fact that I was the one that needed to take ownership for the processes that I was put in charge of.  The key words there are IN CHARGE of.  My boss may have given me a schedule/budget that I don’t think was doable. That doesn’t mean I have no say in what needs to happen. You have been put in that position for a reason. You hope that the reason is because you are trusted to get it done. If that is the case it is up to you to come up with, what you believe to be, realistic solutions to the problem that you have been handed. Of course you can’t go doubling the costs or staff but you can take the time to produce realistic criteria that will need to be adhered to in order to make the end dates and costs.

If you are not listened to you have a few options available.

1.     Suck it up and do the best you feel you can, knowing that it won’t be enough.

2.     Leave.

3.     Stand by what you believe. Even if you end up being wrong. Own it. Do what you have to, to make your points stick and be aware of what the consequences may be.

Most of us had done the first. A few had done the second but sadly few had done the third.

This may sound like a simplistic view and you would be right. 

Fear plays a big role in what you do at this point. You may feel strongly that you know that what is on paper is not doable but how do you let the powers that be know without losing your job? The fear of failure rears its ugly head yet again. You may bring the issues up in the next production meeting only to have them put aside by those above you who say things like, “I know and understand your concerns but this is the hand we are dealt. Make it work”.

What took me a long time to realize is that I had to be the one to own the processes that I was put in charge of. I had to get beyond my own fears of failing and do what I believed to be the right thing. No matter what the outcome. I was put in that position to make things work. It was up to me to make it so. When I made this decision things took on a different perspective.

Yes there were still times where I failed but I made the effort to point out those failures and what could be done to avoid them in the future. Both from my perspective and the perspective of future project milestones.  

I no longer have that sign above my desk. There are days still where I feel I need it but then I remember my family motto.

Stand sure.

The Comfort Zone

Or: This must be purgatory.

It’s Friday. 5 O’clock. You have spent the week doing your job. You have your check and are ready for the weekend. You had a discussion with some of your co-workers about a game you played recently or a film you watched. You all had strong opinions and had talked about what you would have done instead. There was a moment where someone said, “let’s do something like that”. There was friendly agreement that we could, if we really wanted to. After all, you all have great ideas on what works and what doesn’t.

Why then don’t you?

What is it that stops you?

I call it the comfort zone.

In my world it is a frightening place. A place filled with “what ifs” and “should have done” and “if only I had the time”. But the underlying foundation for it all is the fear that I won’t be able to do it. I won’t be good at it.  I don’t want to fail.

I suspect this fear started around grade 6. Teachers, (whom I have a great respect for), started putting the pressure on us that we needed to start thinking about what we wanted to be when we grew up. In high school I was told, “You don’t want to end up in a dead end job with no prospects for the future, do you?” This was around the time a guidance councilor told me I probably would be best suited for a career as a gravedigger.  As Grand Moff Tarkin said, “Fear will keep the local systems in line”.

The fear we feel to perform can be palpable and can be what keeps us from, what Ken Robinson calls, the element.  “The Element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the Element, they feel most themselves, most inspired, and achieve at their highest levels.”

Some of us find our passion at an early age, a passion that we then can turn into a career. This doesn’t always translate into a lucrative thing but can be what makes you a happy person. Sometimes it can take a lifetime to find it. It might be the Buddhist in me but I think the search for passion can be as rewarding as the actual discovery. I do believe you will know when you find it.

What you should never accept is not trying. Fear is only powerful if you let it be so. Don’t give into the fear. Don’t accept things as they are and not even try.

Find ways to step out of your Comfort Zone. Even small things can start something big. If it is a game you want to make then figure out what you need to do to make it. Can you code? If not then try and learn. If that fails then try something else. You won’t know until you try. Don’t accept your own excuses. “ I don’t have the time” is my personal favorite and one that I am always at constant war with. What am I doing that doesn’t allow me the time do try? Is it a real reason? Why do I think the reason is real?

Yes, we can be our own worse critics but we can also be our best motivator too. It’s all a matter of perspective and is part of the Comfort Zone.

Sure we can’t all be a Peter Jackson, Chuck Jones or a Shigeru Miyamoto but so what? All I can ever truly be is me. Don’t accept anything less.

I’m 44 now. I still don’t really know what I want to be when I grow up but I have decided that I love the searching. I am pretty sure that I don’t want to be a gravedigger. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

Agile, Scrum, Waterfall etc..

Actually, I’m Atheist.

Maybe it would be better to say that I am Agnostic.

While I consider myself to be somewhat of an evangelist when it comes to promoting project management techniques I have discovered over the years of hard toil and battles won and lost that there really is no single belief that will win you the day.

My early days of project management was in the role of disciple where I learned techniques from those that I followed. Doe eyed and full of passion I would follow those I considered my betters down paths that they had traveled many times before. I would pass the gospel to those that flocked to our cause.

Later in life I discovered ancient tomes that professed a higher level of enlightenment. I spent much time researching and putting into practice what I had read to some success. I became a born again evangelist to the ways of managing processes.  I insisted that one way was better than another and would spend many an hour trying to prove my beliefs. As I continued to discover various tomes my passion would switch from one technique to another. I would drop the last for the “new way” and would focus my energies on honing the processes under my control into the latest production bible.

This cycle continued for many years.

One day I realized something. All the different techniques that I had spent time learning and putting into practice had something in common. Not one of them was perfect. I could not achieve nirvana through the use of a single way.  At first I thought my chosen path was futile and that I was lost.  Then I read some teachings of Buddha:

“A family is a place where minds come in contact with one another. If these minds love one another the home will be as beautiful as a flower garden. But if these minds get out of harmony with one another it is like a storm that plays havoc with the garden.”

“Chaos is inherent in all compounded things. Strive on with diligence.“

“The only real failure in life is not to be true to the best one knows. “

I now believe that an intimate understanding of the skills and knowledge of those involved is paramount. No matter what job anyone is responsible for they play an important role against entropy. This is the first step on the way to nirvana.

Knowing the road that you must travel will help you in deciding what shoes to wear. Be it Agile, Scrum, Waterfall or any combination of these or any other processes that you may believe in.

Learning from the teachings of others is important but to follow a single path is not. Through knowledge one can gain insight. Through insight one can gain experience. Through experience one can decide what is the best path to travel.

Some day I hope to get it right. In the meantime I will strive for understanding in the hope of achieving perfection.

The perfect wave

 While I consider myself somewhat of a cynic I also like to think of myself as having an optimistic side. Otherwise why keep at it right?

It doesn’t seem like it happens all that often - the magic sweet spot of everything going exactly as it should – but when it does happen, for me at least, it is the closest thing I can think of to a religious experience.

One of my favorite movie quotes is from the film, Gladiator. Russel Crow is talking with his slave and asks him if he was happy. The slave turns and says something like, “Most of the time I do what I have to, sometimes I get to do what I want.” I have always liked that line. Not because I am trying to equate animation production to slave labour although I am sure some folks would!

A production Manager’s job is partly to anticipate what can go wrong on a project. This inherently makes us seem like we are cynics. We are always trying to find ways to avoid disaster and when disaster doesn’t happen we ask the question, why not?  This tends to be a constant cycle and can sometimes lead to seemingly unfeeling behavior. I remember the big ice storm in Ottawa. The studio I was at was one of the few places that still had power. Much of the crew would stay there as opposed to going home to their powerless and cold abodes. I thought it was great because we were still able to meet our deadlines. Of course it wasn’t so great for the loved ones that had no power. It could be why PM’s have a reputation for being a bit heartless.

While this is something that is always in the front of my mind the goal is always to make the show the best it can be with the team and money that is there. When all the parts start to work like parts of a giant clock, that is extremely exciting to me. On projects that I have worked on it seems that this happens around the third to fifth episode. Sometimes sooner and sometimes later. Everyone starts to understand the connection they have, not only to each other but also from department to department.

When this happens, to me it feels like I am riding a surfboard on a huge wave. The chaos of the first few weeks/months of getting everything right is behind you and everyone is on track. The wave has picked everyone up and you are all feeling the elation of freefall as the grind disappears and all that is left is pure creation. The cynic in me says that there is bound to be something in the way that will make someone fall off and maybe the whole thing will crash into the shore leaving broken lives in its wake but right then there is no power in the ‘verse that can stop you. This alone makes all the other pain that will happen worth it for me.

When the hard work that is done pays off with a happy crew and a great show then nothing else seems to matter and the creative process can really have its time in the limelight.

Most of the time I do what I have to, sometimes I get to do what I want. What I want is to be on that wave!

Inception

A review…

I am not known to write my opinions on films. I am more known for stating them in a public place.

With the huge fanfare that has surrounded this particular film I thought it was necessary to explain why I didn’t enjoy it.

Spoilers follow….

To start, I am a fan of Chris Nolan’s and Lee Smith’s (editor) works. I enjoyed Memento, The Prestige and The Dark Knight. All great stories made better with interesting editing and great acting/directing.

Inception fell short for me in three main areas:

Creating complicated time compression and time expansion.

            This is an age-old editing technique that is used in countless films. Creating a series of cuts that expand or compress the perceived time that events take place in. When done well the viewer doesn’t notice and it helps in creating tension. In this film the need to create several layers of perceived time expansion/compression started to work against itself. Half way through the film I could no longer stay compelled into the story as I was paying more attention to the time that events were supposed to be taking place relative to each other in the separate time lines.

Around the moment of the van almost falling into the water I lost interest and started to second guess if they had gotten the pace right. This need to create relativistic edits between “levels” started to make the pace for each of the main events to slow down too much. It took far too long for Arthur to tie up the other characters and get them into the elevator.

The battle outside the winter compound started to verge on the farcical with the slow progression of Eames and his killing of the imagined defenders. It was like watching someone play Call of Duty of super easy.   Can anyone remember how many soldiers there were? How was he able to drive behind them for, what felt like, ten minutes of screen time? Picking off one at a time?

Liberal use of video game terminology.

Everything about this story made me feel like I was watching a game unfold. From level design to how the created people acted in the mind space. Every few minutes there was dialogue to remind us of this fact. As well as reminders that the story is supposed to be deep and about what is consciousness.  It started to verge on preaching.

Buying into the world the filmmakers created.

The first third of the film had me in its grip. The progression into the mind and what can happen if you mess with it too much was very compelling.  The “walkthrough” between Ariadne and Cobb was great. The world can be hugely messed with if your mind is strong enough but be careful, the more you do it the more the mind will rebel.  My issue after this scene is the almost completely ignore the peril or at best barely acknowledge it is happening. When they go into “level 2” they start to bring this piece of potential tension back in but then only for a select few of the-what I will call-“Bots”.

My last bone of contention is the constant referral and complete miss-use of Catharism.

This was also the basis for the Matrix.

Not to be completely negative, there were moments where I was sucked in and enjoyed myself. How they did the no gravity was cool.

The theme had a lot of potential. At first it felt like a Philip K Dick novel. Sadly Mr. Dick was far better at creating this type of story.

Eye in the Sky

Martian Time Slip Among others.

I wish Mr. Nolan the best with his next film and I hope to enjoy it as much as some of his earlier work.

Feel free to completely disagree with some or all of what I have posted. But back it up with an argument:

a reason or set of reasons given with the aim of persuading others that an action or idea is right or wrong : there is a strong argument for submitting a formal appeal | [with clause ] he rejected the argument that keeping the facility would be costly.

Casual Connect

A personal opinion

I spent last week in the wonderful city of Seattle for the Casual Connect conference.

It was my first time going. I tried to keep my wonder lust to a minimum and just experience the talks and people as best I could.

It was quite the mix of excited hope for the future of the social game space and the fear that the social game bubble has burst.

If you only listened to the big players in the space then you would have walked away feeling somewhat disheartened that the future of social games has been locked up and that there was little point in even trying to get into this market.  Companies like Zynga and Playdom had some discussions about what they expect to happen in the coming months. The words “Viral is dead” were thrown around a lot as well as it is all about “retention of players” now. I would agree that this would be the case for studios that have seen massive growth in this area for the past couple of years. When you start a game with a small team and a few players then balloon to 80+ million players in a year, only to see 20 million leave in a couple of months, you are going to want to focus your future on keeping everyone you can.

I see companies falling into the Hollywood model of success.  The big folks don’t want to take the risk of coming up with something completely new and having it fail. They have too much to lose, at least that may be what they are thinking. When we see a hit movie come up and make loads of cash there follows a rash of copycats and similar films that try to capitalize on the success on the original. This works well enough and has been a model for games as well over the years, either through sequels or similar types of games. How many “Ville” games are out there now?  I wouldn’t consider this a bad thing. What can be bad is when companies feel there is no room for risk taking at all and if you believed the discussions at Casual Connect, this seemed to be the case.

I still think there is room for small studios to make an impact in this space. You may not get to be as big as some of the others but if you focus on creating something that people will want to play then even a couple of million players can give you a return on investment.

Paying attention to the lessons of the past is a good place to start. Entertainment has evolved quite a lot over the years. TV shows, movies and games that we enjoyed, as kids don’t always hold up to our memories.  Technology plays a role in this. So does our collective desire to be surprised by what we see or play. Creatively we are always trying to push to the edge of what is enjoyable. Sometimes it can be too extreme and other times too familiar to be seen as a true hit. In TV, Lost and 24 have changed how we are entertained and have spawned a large number of similar styles of story construction. In film The Blair Witch Project helped change our perception of what made a good film, (I’m not a fan but I can see how it affected the industry), I suspect that JJ. Abrams film Cloverfield owes some its success to that earlier film.

Casual games are still very much in their infancy and I think evolving much faster than other forms of entertainment.  Its growth, in many ways, is unlike any other before. Its evolution will most likely be as fast.

I live in excited hope for what ever comes next!

The art of staying sane

Or:

Even crappy McJobs can give you valuable experiences.

I was at a conference this week (Casual Connect) for the social online gaming space and had a fun discussion about the awful jobs people have had to do over their careers.

It struck me that even that worst job that you have had can be seen to have given you some form of valuable experience.

Take working at a fast food restaurant for example. I think my time working at the golden arches was the one job that prepared me more than any other for the pressure of Project Management.

A list of things I learned:

The need for speed and accuracy.

            When you are making a burger you need to be quick and make it look like something worth eating. Being fast isn’t enough.

            While working in a production the faster and more accurate you can get at doing your part the more work you will end up getting!

Troubleshooting.

            When something goes wrong with the system you don’t have a lot of time to fix it. The food wagon needs to keep rolling along. How you handle that will be a testament to your courage and intestinal fortitude. A good way to advance is under pressure. Keep a level head and remember your training. You will get out alive.

            The same goes for any project you are part of. Using your head to figure out how to get over a particular problem will make you a valuable part of any team.

Rapid changing priorities and how to deal effectively with them.

            You get into a groove and know what to expect, even during lunch rush. Then a busload of Senior Citizens shows up and throws your entire pipeline out the window. The team hunkers down and helps each other through the chaos.

            No plan survives contact with the enemy! Roll with it and make sure you are on top of what the most important priorities are at that time.

Getting along with others.

            You end up working with some people that you really don’t like. You can have a miserable time of it or find ways to A, get along or B, go to Management and find a solution that works for all.

            If you are Management knowing how to deal with problematic personnel situations is imperative.

Paying attention to details.

            Mc D’s has spent a long time and a lot of money creating a very detailed series of training programs on how to make the best burger. If you take the time to learn it and really pay attention to the details of what you are doing while making that burger, people will love you for it.

            This goes for any studio that you find yourself at. If they have training programs use them to your fullest. If they don’t take the time to learn from those that are willing to give you the info. Pay attention to your environment.

Attention to the pipeline and how my role affects it.

            If you are part of the assembly line you want to make sure that what you are doing is going to help, not hinder, what the next person in the line needs to do. The same for who is before you.

            Knowing what effect your job has on the ones coming after you will make you a solid part of any team. No one works in a bubble.

While I would never recommend taking on a job that you are miserable doing I find that if you are stuck in one make sure that A, you can get out of it as soon as you can and B, take the time to asses what your experience there may have given you. The craft of entertainment is one of constant evolution. Even the bad experiences can give you some value.

Uncertainty is the principle

Or: Heisenberg would have made a great Producer.

A great quote from Ed Catmull:

“On managers self-destructive tendencies for creative work:

The notion that you’re trying to control the process and prevent error screws things up. We all know the saying it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission. And everyone knows that, but I Think there is a corollary: if everyone is trying to prevent error, it screws things up. It’s better to fix problems than to prevent them. And the natural tendency for managers is to try and prevent error and over plan things.”

Another great quote that I like is from General G.S. Patton:

 “If everybody’s thinking alike, somebody isn’t thinking.”

A production of any significant size and complexity is one of inherent uncertainty and it becomes the responsibility of the Producer to manage this. Part of our reason for being in this position is to anticipate everything that can go wrong and take steps to avoid it.  One can take this too literally and spend far too much time in trying to solve issues before they occur.

There will always be what can be considered are certain amount of waste that takes place. The mistake would be in thinking that this is always a bad thing. Obviously too much waste of resources will sink your project but trying to resolve all potential issues will surely sink your project faster. In a creative process there will always need to be a certain amount of experimentation that is required in order to solve problems associated with the desired outcome. Things like, “How do we animate hair like that?”, or, “How do we get the Bot AI to react the way we want?”.

Sometimes these issues get categorized as R&D costs and that is fine. Remember that there can be R&D costs associated with all sorts of things that you will not be able to anticipate until they happen. At that point they tend to be categorized as over budget line items which can then lead to all sorts of crying and wailing.

A good practice is to assume a certain amount of extra cost within a given creative process as well as extra time that may be required in order to deal with ambiguous requirements that may arise. This doesn’t mean you always add X amount of cash/time to every process but you need to make well-informed judgment calls for each creative process under your care. Budgets are too tight to assume extra cost for everything. You need to make judgment calls based on yours and your teams experience.

Expect mistakes to happen.  If you encourage an environment of collaboration then when mistakes do take place it becomes more of a group initiative to fix them.

Create a more regimented environment then mistakes will still happen but no one will want to point them out and by the time you hear about them it will be too late to do anything about it.

There are all sorts of definitions that can be used for best practices and I have used a few in articles before.  Bottom line for me is if you want to be a part of something that is successful, how ever you wish to define that, and then be part of it. Don’t try to over control it. Until someone invents a real Heisenberg Compensator, (Star Trek joke), then you need to accept the fact that no one can anticipate everything that can go wrong. Nor should you, as that is part of the creative process.

Expect the unexpected but don’t waste too much time in trying to avoid it. Deal with it as it comes!