Things really started off this week. The group projected entered its first development week while our individual courses truly began. With schedules and homework assigned accordingly. A fairly simple task was assigned (for those well versed in Photoshop at least) involving the capturing of silhouettes from various images, their fundamental concept and story, and then changing it to something else.
Between the group project and specialised courses it feels like I’m barely given enough time for individual studies and practice, but that’s what weekends are for I suppose. I can certainly see the advantages of the SCRUM planning method as it enables you to acquire a clear picture of what to do during a specific period of time before pushing too far ahead of your limits. The key to this, I would say, would be a stable work flow and development. You have to think long term. Sure, you could certainly finish the majority of work in a much shorter time span, but that will only serve to burn you out and you will still have more studies looming on the horizon. You must be able to start a pace and keep it for an indefinite amount of time without risk of overexertion. Otherwise you won’t be able to get anywhere, it’s alike a virtual counterpart to humanity’s evolutionary advantages concerning energy consumption. While most other creatures out run us with ease at shorter distances, eventually we catch up due to our ability to remain mobile under much longer periods of time. I think it’s a good idea to adopt such a mind-set when planning for your work ahead.
The group has progressed well so far, I’d dare say even better than during the autumn when we just planned out the concept of a working product. While we’ve had some trouble figuring out how to efficiently utilise SCRUM and plan ahead I don’t think anyone expected us to get it right at the first try. As of now we’re significantly inexperienced, and the only way to move out of this phase is to simply try it out and see what happens. May be it all goes to hell, but at least then we’ll have a greater understanding of our own limitations and thus know how to work it out with greater efficiency and better organisation. The teachers themselves have pointed out the flaws of this method as it becomes difficult to adjust the scheduling and remain flexible as circumstances alter in unexpected ways. We really shouldn’t be afraid of making mistakes at these early stages of our studies. The journey is as important as the destination!
That’s all for this week. Haven’t really been able to do much else what with other matters having kept me occupied this weekend. I should learn to organise taking care of my apartment as well.
Until next time!
Björn Erik Berndtsson. Graphics and Game Design.
bjornberndtsson 