Index
95 mile-per-hour art, 143, 228
A
Abnormal termination. See Sprint resets
Accuracy, of estimations, 113
Agile
agile manifesto, 13
art and audio, 223–233
benefits for game development, 20–28
bibliography, 32, 221, 233, 247, 263
budgets, 231
collaboration, 232
concerns about, 225
contracts, 293–300
debugging, 216
design, 235–247
distributed teams, 183–187
leadership, 226
“not done yet” syndrome, 230
planning, 107–124
postmortems, 14–20
production, 259–262
projects, 28–31
values applied to game development, 24–28
Analogy, in estimations, 114
Apprentice stage, Scrum adoption, 302–306
Apprentice teams, sprints, 307, 311
Arcade games, game development process, 5
Architecture, changing, 209
Art, agile, 223–233
Assault specialists, role, 97
Asset baking, 192
Asset hot loading, 193
Asset production pipelines, kanban boards, 139
Asset size, cycle time, 148
Asset validation, 196
Atari, arcade game development, 5
Audio, agile, 232
Automated play-through tests, 197
B
Backlogs, See also Product backlogs; Sprint backlogs
burndown trends, 70
product backlogs, 323
release backlogs, 120
sprint backlogs, 62
Batch size, cycle time, 148
Batches, reducing or eliminating, 149
BDUF (big designs up front)
agile methodologies, 21
feature creep, 17
Beachhead teams, Scrum, 317–320
BHAGS (big hairy audacious goals)
about, 118
teams, 120
Bibliography, 327
agile, 32, 124, 221, 233, 247, 263
game development, 12
iterations, 201
publishers, 300
sprints, 84
teams, 188
user stories, 105
Black box testing, 251
Boards. See Task boards
Boats, as a metaphor for lean thinking, 151
Bottlenecks, pair programming, 214
Budgets
adhering to, 219
agile, 231
balancing, 129
controlling, 291
production, 229
project leaders, 166
Buffers, shown on a kanban board, 149
Bugs
bug databases, 217
discovery rate in agile projects, 252
discovery rate in waterfall projects, 250
Build configuration testing, 196
Build iterations, 194–201
Builds, defined, 76
Burndown charts
sprints, 69
using, 83
Burndown trends, 70
Burndowns, crunches, 280
C
Cards. See Index cards; Task cards
Cargo Cult Scrum, 277
Challenger project disaster, 271
Change
architecture, 209
communicating, 87
cultural, 275
goals, 82
handling in agile projects, 28
last-minute, 285
practices, 316
Scrum, 274
team membership, 315
testing, 195–198
vision, 238
Charts. See Burndown charts
Chickens and pigs story, Scrum, 55
CIS (continuous integration server), 211
Coaches, Scrum coaches, 321
Coaching, cross-team coaching, 319
Collaboration
agile, 232
contracts, 286
versus contract negotiation, 27
Collecting, user stories, 100–103
Collocation, teams, 308
Columbia project disaster, 271
Commitment, teams, 158
Commits, 195
Communication, See also Documentation
about testing, 199
change, 87
large teams, 174
Communities of practice, teams, 180
Concepts
creating, 130
defined, 131
Scrum, 133
Conditions of satisfaction. See CoS
Consistency, monkey example, 273
Constraints, sprint planning, 61
Continual improvement
advantages, 147
master stage, 314
Scrum, 276
ScrumMaster, 49
Continuous build tests, 197
Contracts
agile, 293–300
negotiation versus collaboration, 27
scope of, 285
time and materials form, 28
Conversations
user stories as placeholders for, 94
versus documentation, 87
Core experts, master stage, 314
CoS (conditions of satisfaction)
about, 91
user stories, 90
Cost
game development, 8
key factor in game development, 22
prioritizing product backlogs, 109
production cost estimates, 135
Creative tension, 227
Creativity, within strict frameworks, 150
Critical chain management, 260
Cross-discipline teams
about, 160
budgets, 231
feature teams, 169
Scrum, 159
Cross-team coaching, 319
Crunches, Scrum, 279
Cultural change, Scrum, 274, 275
Culture, master stage, 315
Customers
collaboration versus contract -negotiation, 27
feedback, 65
Scrum, 54
Cycle time, 145–148
D
Daily build tests, 197
Daily scrums
about, 40
challenges, 304
replacing, 305
Databases, bug databases, 217, 256
Dates. See Ship dates
Debt
defined, 127
postponing, 297
resulting from features, 129
technical debt, 208
waterfall projects, 312
Debugging
agile, 216
bug databases, 256
Deliverables
features, 295
milestones, 286
Demo done, defined, 100
Demos, See also Magazine demos
Dependencies
managing, 259
Deployment
build iterations, 199
Scrum, 321–323
Design
documentation, 238
lead designer, 246
lead designer role, 246
prioritization, 239–242
product owner, 246
project leaders, 166
Scrum, 237–247
set-based, 242–245
Design documentation. See Documentation
Details
disaggregating stories, 90
in stories, 94
user stories, 88
Developers, See also Project staff; Teams
agile, 283
collaboration, 25
load balancing, 138
pair programming, 215
play-testing, 257
Development, Scrum, 269
Directors, role of, 168
Disaggregating
in estimations, 114
stories to add details, 90
Distributed teams, 183–187
Scrum, 238
Smuggler’s Run example, 86
user stories, 104
versus conversation, 87
writing it down, 21
“Done”
defining, 99, 257, 297, 303, 322
sprints, 122
Durations. See Length
E
Embedded QA versus pools, 254
Emergence, defined, 40
Emergent requirements, about, 17
Empiricism, defined, 40
Employees. See Developers
Engineers, role, 97
Environment. See Work environment
Epics
balancing the budget, 129
defined, 89
identifying, 101
Estimable attribute, INVEST, 95
Estimating
production costs, 135
size of user stories, 112–117
tasks, 62–65
Expert opinion, in estimations, 114
Experts, master stage, 314
External dependencies, tracking, 260
Extreme programming (XP), 210–220
F
Failure notifications, 198
Failures, handling in sprints, 80–84
Feature creep, 17
Feature teams, cross-discipline teams, 169
Features, See also User stories
deliverables, 295
introducing, 209
production, 154
“Federal and state laws” in managing studio projects, 165
Feedback
customers, 65
gameplay, 148
production feedback, 148
velocity feedback, 149
Fibonacci series, estimating size of user stories, 116
First-party problems, 287
Fixed ship dates, agile contracts, 295–298
Forecasting, agile planning, 110
FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt), Scrum, 269–273
Fun
iterative and collaborative, 242
key factor in game development, 22
teams, 158
Functional teams, 170
G
Game development, 3–12
arcade games, 5
bibliography, 12
crisis point, 10
history, 4–9
Gameplay
feedback and asset size, 148
required hours, 130
Goals, See also Objectives
in agile projects, 29
BHAGs, 118
changing, 82
dropping, 83
pre-production metrics, 292
Scrum teams, 162
user stories, 88
Green lights, 299
H
Hand-to-hand combat systems, planning, 102
Handoffs, reducing waste, 151
Hardware
capabilities of, 4
implications for game development methodologies, 6
History
game development, 4–9
Scrum, 36–38
Hit-or-miss model of game development, 7–9
Hourly build tests, 197
I
Impediments
about, 48
daily scrum meetings, 74
In sourcing, pool teams, 173
Independent attribute, INVEST, 92
Independent sprints, 179
Index cards, user stories, 92
Information radiators, 309
Innovation
crisis in game development, 10
effect of cost and risk on, 10
at factory level, 37
Inspect and adapt principle, about, 29, 31
Integration teams, 173
Intensity, sprints, 67
INVEST, 92–97
Independent, 92
Negociable, 93
Valuable, 95
Estimable, 95
Sized appropriately, 96
Testable, 97
Iterative development, 189–201
bibliography, 201
build iterations, 194–201
improving, 313
measuring and displaying, 191
overhead, 190
personal iterations, 193
publishers, 287
J
Japan, industrial expansion after World War II, 37
Journeyman stage, Scrum adoption, 307–313
K
Kanban boards
showing buffers, 149
with sprint swim lane, 154
visualizing flows, 140
The Karate Kid movie, 301
Kill-gate model, 24
Knowledge
art knowledge, 229
key factor in game development, 21
L
Laws, “federal and state laws” in managing studio projects, 165
Lead designer, Scrum, 246
Leadership
art, 226
master stage, 314
stakeholder role, 55
Lean production, 139–153
Length
story points, 114
Level loads tests, 197
Leveling
flows, 144–146
production flow, 142
Lightweight methods, 13
Lines of communication, large teams, 174
Lockdowns, 271
Lookahead planning, 182
M
Magazine demos, 122
Management
project leaders, 166
Scrum, 270
Managers, role in industrial production processes, 37
Manifesto, agile manifesto, 13
Market
used games, 11
video gaming trend, 8
Marketing
concepts, 130
importance of, 55
Master stage, Scrum adoption, 314–316
Meetings
release planning, 117
sprint planning meetings, 38, 59
sprint prioritization meetings, 59
Mentoring, project leaders, 166, 167
Metrics, pre-production, 292
Michelangelo, Sistine Chapel, 223
Microprocessors, number of transistors, 4
Midnight Club story, 127
Midtown Madness game, 157
Milestone deliverables, 286
Milestone payments, 285
MMOs (massively multiplayer online games), release dates, 130
Monitoring progress, 48
Monkey example, consistency, 273
Moore, Gordon, on microprocessor transistor counts, 4
N
Near-shippable state, defined, 44
Negotiable attribute, INVEST, 93
Negotiable stories, about, 94
Negotiation, contract negotiation versus collaboration, 27
Ninjas, defined, 56
Normalization of deviance, 272
“Not done yet” syndrome, agile, 230
Notifications, failure notifications, 198
O
Objectives, See also Goals
agile planning, 108
Optimization, agile, 217–220
Outsourcing
about, 152
support for, 260
Overhead, iterations, 190
Overtime, Scrum, 279
Owners. See Product owners
Ownership
about, 47
distributed teams, 187
master stage, 314
P
Pair programming, 212–215
Parallel development model, 66
“Parts on the garage floor example”, 239–242
PBIs (product backlog items), See also User stories
about, 38
dropping, 83
task boards, 72
tasks, 62–65
Personal iterations, 193
Pigs and chickens story, Scrum, 55
Pirates, defined, 56
Planning See also Production, 127–155
in agile projects, 29
bibliography, 124
estimating size of user stories, 112–117
feature sets
hand-to-hand combat systems, 102
iterating against plans, 294
lookahead planning, 182
Midnight Club story, 127
overhead required for, 67
product owner role, 53
project leaders, 166
publishers, 291
sprints, 59–68
stages, 130–134
subsets of, 45
transition planning, 321
why agile, 107
Planning meetings, sprints, 38
Planning Poker, estimating size of user stories, 115
Platform smoke tests, 197
Play-testing, about, 256
Play-throughs tests, 197
Point-based design, 244
Poker, Planning Poker, 115
Pool teams, 172
Pools versus embedded QA, 254
Portfolios drive dates, 287
Post-production
about, 131
pair programming, 216
Scrum, 134
Posting, sprint retrospective meeting results, 80
Postmortems, agile, 14–20
Pre-production
about, 19
agile, 298
budget, 229
defined, 131
measuring production debt, 135
metrics and goals, 292
Scrum, 134
Pre-production done, defined, 100
Predictability, importance of, 19
Price, of video games, 9
Prioritization
defined, 41
product backlogs, 109
sprints, 60
stories and agile planning, 110
teams, 162
tracking and communicating, 87
Processors. See Microprocessors
Product backlog items. See PBIs
Product backlogs
agile planning, 108–112
debugging, 217
establishing, 323
product owner role, 53
Product owners
defining “done”, 122
designer as, 246
example of importance, 269
producer as, 261
publishers, 289
release plans, 121
Scrum, 51–54
spikes, 96
teams, 177
Production, 134–155
art, 225
budget, 229
features, 154
feedback and asset size, 148
lean production, 139–153
leveling flow, 142
postmortem example, 16
publishers, 292
scheduling, 134
sprints, 153
Production streams, Scrum, 136
Production teams, 171
Profit
cost and quality, 22
Programming, agile, 210–216
Project leaders, role, 166
Project planning. See Planning
Project staff, See also Developers; Teams
defined, 46
Promotion, project leaders role, 166
Prototypes
done, 100
postmortem example, 15
Publisher-producer role, defined, 54
Publishers, 283–300
bibliography, 300
collaboration, 285
contracts, 293–300
first-party problems, 287
iterations, 287
milestone payments, 285
portfolios drive dates, 287
product owners, 289
production, 292
project planning, 291
sprint reviews, 77
Q
QA (quality assurance)
agile, 249–259
art, 228
play-throughs tests, 197
Quality
defining in contracts, 286
key factor in game development, 22
R
Reasons, user stories, 88
Refactoring, TDD, 211
Reference assets, 230
Regression tests, 253
Release backlogs, usefulness of, 120
Release cycles, 308
Release dates
controlling, 291
MMOs, 130
Release plans
defined, 119
Scrum teams, 162
Release states, in iterative development process, 29
Releases
product owner role, 53
sprints, 322
stages, 132
Requirements, See also User stories
in user stories, 94
versus user stories, 103
Resets. See Sprint resets
Resource allocation. See Budgets
Responsibilities, ScrumMasters, 46
Retrospectives
meetings, 79
sprints, 78
Return on investment, product owners, 246
Reviews
project leaders role, 166, 167
sprints, 75–78
Risk
management of, 260
prioritizing product backlogs, 109
waterfall-style methodologies for reducing, 6
ROI (return on investment), product owner role, 52
Roles
lead designer, 246
producer, 259–262
QA, 252–259
Scrum, 44–54
user roles, 88
users roles in user stories, 97
Roll outs, release planning, 120
Rooms. See War rooms
S
Sagas, defined, 89
Sales, video games, 7
Scrum, 56
teams, 173–187
Scheduling
aligning sprint dates, 178
producers, 259
production, 134
task estimation, 18
Scope, controlling, 291
Scrum, 35–57, 267–282, 301–324
adoption stages, 301–316
adoption strategies, 317–323
apprentice stage, 302–306
asset production pipelines, 139
beachhead teams, 317–320
Cargo Cult Scrum, 277
challenges, 273–281
chickens and pigs story, 55
coaches, 321
customers, 54
deployment, 321–323
design, 237–247
documentation, 238
FUD, 269–273
history, 36–38
journeyman stage, 307–313
lead designer, 246
master stage, 314–316
pair programming, 216
principles, 40
prioritization, 239–242
product owners, 246
releases, 133
roles, 44–54
scaling, 56
set-based design, 242–245
stakeholders, 54
task boards, 136
ScrumMasters
changing goals, 82
producer as, 260
reporting to, 304
Self-management
project leaders, 166
Self-organization
defined, 41
master stage, 314
Semidaily build tests, 197
Sequential development model, 66
Set-based design, 242–245
Shared infrastructure teams, 171
Shared vision
Ship dates
agile, 130
postmortem example, 15
Shippable done, defined, 100
SI teams, 171
Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo’s experience with, 223
Sized appropriately attribute, INVEST, 96
Smuggler’s Run, 85
Snipers, role, 97
Special forces, role, 97
Spikes
about, 96
prioritizing product backlogs, 109
Split-and-reform method, 319
Split-and-seed method, 318
Sprint backlogs
debugging, 217
defined, 38
Sprint dates, teams, 178
Sprint goals, release planning meetings, 120
Sprint planning meetings, 59
Sprint prioritization meetings, 59
Sprint resets, about, 81
Sprint retrospectives, defined, 40
Sprint spacing, 303
Sprints, 59–84
bibliography, 84
done, 122
goals, 305
handling failures, 80–84
length, 272
meetings, 74
“parts on the garage floor” example, 240
planning, 59–68
product backlogs, 110
production, 153
production streams, 137
releases, 322
retrospectives, 78
reviews, 75–78
staggered and synchronized, 179
tracking, 68–73
uncertainties, 279
Stage-gate model, 298
Stages
planning, 130–134
Scrum adoption, 301–316
Staggered sprints, 179
Stakeholders, See also Publishers; Studios
communicating with teams, 49
defined, 43
length of sprints, 68
Scrum, 54
“State and federal laws” in managing studio projects, 165
Stories, See also User stories
chickens and pigs story, 55
Story points
agile planning, 110
estimating size of user stories, 114, 116
Studio culture
master stage, 315
postmortem example, 15
Studios, sprint reviews, 78
Support, role, 97
Synchronized sprints, 179
T
Takt time, about, 146
Task boards
Scrum, 136
sprints, 72
Task cards, sprints, 69
Tasks
debugging, 217
estimation and schedules, 18
PBIs, 62–65
project leaders role in creating and managing, 166
TDD (test driven development), 210–212
Teams, See also Developers; Project staff, 157–188
about, 158
agile, 289
apprentice teams, 307
BHAGS, 120
bibliography, 188
build iterations, 200
collaboration, 168–173
collocation, 308
communicating with stakeholders, 49
communities of practice, 180
cross-discipline, 160, 227–232
daily scrums, 305
dependencies, 181
distributed, 183–187
experience, 66
functional teams, 170
handling failure, 81
integration teams, 173
leadership, 165
load balancing, 138
master stage, 315
pool teams, 172
product owners, 177
production teams, 171
scaling, 173–187
Scrum, 44–46, 155, 159–168, 173–187
self-management, 161
self-organization, 161–163
shared infrastructure teams, 171
sprint dates, 178
tool teams, 172
Technical debt, 208
Testable attribute, INVEST, 97
Testing, See also QA
black box and white box, 251
changes, 195–198
play-testing, 256
regression tests, 253
versus QA, 251
in waterfall designs, 7
Themes, defined, 89
Time, tracking, 62
Time and materials contracts, 28
Timeboxes
about, 142–144
Tool teams, 172
Tracer bullets. See Spikes
Tracking
dependencies, 260
Scrum, 275
sprint retrospective meeting results, 80
sprints, 68–73
tasks, 259
time, 62
Transfer time, reducing, 199
Transition planning, 321
Transparency, importance of, 152
Trends. See Burndown trends
Trust, contracts, 286
U
Uncertainty, range of, 17
Units tests, 196
Updating, release plans, 120
Used games market trends, 11
User roles, defined, 88
User stories, See also Features; PBIs; Requirements, 85–105
bibliography, 105
collecting, 100–103
completing, 99
conditions of satisfaction, 90
estimating size of, 112–117
index cards, 92
INVEST, 92–97
levels of detail, 88
QA, 252
Smuggler’s Run, 85
user roles, 97
versus written requirements, 103
V
Valuable attribute, INVEST, 95
Value, See also Fun
creating with agile methodologies, 26
crisis in game development, 10
master stage, 314
postponed, 311
prioritizing product backlogs, 109
Scrum, 275
teams, 158
of video games to the consumer, 10
Velocity
agile planning, 110–112
feedback, 149
measuring, 274
Vision, changes, 238
W
War rooms, sprints, 73
Waste
cycle time, 148
eliminating, 24
reducing, 150
Waterfall methodologies
bugs, 250
debt, 312
origin of, 6
responses to, 13
uncertainty, 18
White box testing, 251
Work environment, crisis in game development, 10
X
XP (extreme programming), 210–220
Y
YF-23 jet fighter project, 35
Z
Zones, 149