Game Development Reference
In-Depth Information
4 Hours > 15 Seconds
Late in the Magnadoodle project for Mattel Media, I was working hard on a
graphics bug. I had been programming nearly 18 hours per day for the last
week, and I was completely spent. At 3 a.m., I finally left the office,
unsuccessful after four hours working on the same problem, and went to
sleep. I specifically didn
t set my alarm, and I unplugged all the telephones. I
slept. The next morning, I awoke at a disgusting 11 a.m. and walked into the
office with a fresh cup of Starbuck
'
s in hand. I sat down in front of the code I
was struggling with the night before and instantly solved the problem. The
bug that had eluded me for four hours the day before was solved in less
than 15 seconds.
'
If
that
isn
'
t a great advertisement
for sleep gaining
efficiency in a developer, I don
'
t know what is.
Morale
Team morale is directly proportional to their progress toward their goal, and it isn
'
t
related to their workload. This may seem somewhat counterintuitive, but it
strue.One
theory that has been proposed regarding the people who built the great pyramids of
Egypt is that teams of movers actually competed with each other to see how many
blocks they could move up the ramps in a single day. Their workload and effort were
backbreaking, and their project schedule spanned decades. The constant competition, as
the theory suggests, created high productivity and increased morale at the same time.
Morale can slide under a few circumstances, all of which are completely controllable.
As the previous paragraph suggests, the team must be convinced they are on track to
achieve their goal. This implies that the goal shouldn
'
t be a constantly moving target.
If a project continually changes underneath the developers, they
'
'
ll lose faith that it
will ever be completed. The opposite is also true
a well-designed project that is
under control is a joy to work on, and developers will work amazingly hard to get
to a finish line they can see.
There
'
s also a lot to be said for installing a few creature comforts for the development
team. If they are working long hours, you ' ll be surprised what a little effort toward
team appreciation will accomplish.
Spend a Little Money
It
'
s Your Team
Get out the company credit card and make sure that people on the project are
well cared for. Stock the refrigerator with drinks and snacks, buy decent
dinners every night, and bring in donuts in the morning. Bring in good coffee
and get rid of the cheap stuff. Every now and then, make sure the evening
meal is a nice one, and send them home afterward instead of burning the
midnight oil for the tenth night in a row.
 
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