Red Leader! Red Leader! Stay on Target!
Something that happens more often than not in
the flow of conversations and discussion within each task and group,
which although it has it’s merits, continues to drain on productivity;
is the, albeit inevitable, movement off tangent and into the realms of
future planning and talk about task points and tasks. Sure we all keep
looking ahead and want to expand on the deliverables we’re tasked to
complete, and there’s nothing wrong with discussing these things ahead
of time. However, it’s a matter of time and place, more time then place
usually. We need to work on keeping focus on the tasks at hand in the
task group discussions so that we can have a much better and higher
turnaround time for submissions. We’re given a certain amount of time
and the more and more we go off tangent and discuss the future rather
then the current, we lose time, and time in any project is invaluable.
We don’t have an unlimited amount of time on the project, and while
we aren’t being rushed, we have to maintain a consistent level of
productivity to make the project a success. Keeping focused on the task
at hand so we can complete our submissions and get them up for decision
and furtherance of the tasks is a priority compared to looking ahead
and picking each petty detail a part before we get to those elements
when those refinements are necessary. We’re doing this in steps and we
need to take those steps and leave firm results with each one. We’ll
refine things more and more as we get to the proper time and place, but
we won’t get there if we’re constantly going round and round on future
things without finishing up the current things.
So something I would like to impress on everyone is the need to
keep their focus on the tasks at hand. When the submissions are
prepared and ready, then feel free to continue to pursue those topics
and look ahead, but when we still have a list of things current on the
docket we must tackle those head on and make sure we get them down
tight before we can move forward. The further we go the more and more
elements will be open to us to work on, but unlike a book, we can’t
skip to the end.
We can accomplish much with the time we have for each task, but
something I think everyone should keep in mind, just because we’re
given a firm timeline for when submissions are due, we don’t need to
push to the last moment before we make the submissions. The more
productive and efficient we are, the further ahead we’ll get without
lots of time lag.
We’re all striving for something, and one of those things is to
prove to the industry and, I think ourselves, that we can do these
things. Showing we can take and execute these tasks in an efficient and
timely manner is a good work ethic for us to achieve, and will reflect
well on our abilities as a community and as designers. I know we’re
capable of it, and you should too, so let’s go balls to the wall and
start getting things done. Leave the future projections for after the
submissions are in and fulfill each task to the best of our abilities.
While we must be aware of the big picture, we can’t stop to discuss it
every third post.
As an attachment to this one, something else that was pointed out
to me, which I very much agree with, is the need for summation. We need
to start condensing our big discussions and making use of bullet points
and have large descriptions filled in below as footnotes and
continuations. This will help both our information management but also
for others to navigate through our ideas, proposals and submission
material. So I’d like everyone, myself included (heh), to keep that in
mind and develop this habit to help us keep information readily
available without having to dig through a mountain of text to find
what’s relevant.
Sure it means work, but that’s what creating a game is. Sure it’s
fun, sure it can be interesting and exciting, but it still is work in
the end, and if you want to make it into the industry, be prepared to
work and work hard. We can have fun along the way, but there’s work to
do, so let’s make sure we get it done. We are the TS community and we
will prevail.
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