Successfully delivering using new technology
I recently completed a project at POP designing and building a 3D game using Unity 3D . The game was for a client looking to introduce their brand to a new generation of patrons. Unity is a relatively new technology for POP. This is not the first time we have delivered quality work using a new technology on-time but it is the first time we delivered with a team more excited about the work in the final weeks of the project than in the beginning. In fact the team was so excited as soon as the project was complete they began working to port the game to Oculus Rift and gaming consoles; as well as, brainstorming how to expand the game. Go Team!
Two primary forces lead to our success
1) A team stacked of smart, passionate, dedicated individuals.
2) An agile approach to eliminate the unknowns of the technology.
But it’s all in the details!
Even with a team of smart, passionate, dedicated individuals and an agile approach there were risks and it was nerve wrecking at times.
Challenge: The schedule was aggressive and the deliverable huge.
Solution:
Using agile we had close collaboration between development, design and the client. Design, dev and the client made decisions together on a daily basis. Ideas were vetted before the client saw designs. Everything we committed to we knew we could deliver.
Challenge: We had a client.
Solution:
We showed the client builds bi-weekly (often times sooner) and included them in our process and decisions. This created a sense of comradery and empathy between our team and the client. Nearing the end of the project the client was supportive in getting it done aligning with us on quality/polish vs feature depth.
Challenge: It was a new technology.
Solution:
We gave the developers the time needed to get comfortable and learn the technology with oversight from an experienced Unity contractor.
We had design talk to dev daily to consult on what we could do in our timeline. Comments like “I don’t know how to do this” quickly turned into “here’s how you do that”.
We comprised a team that had experience with technologies similar to Unity. (e.g. C# dev, interactive JS dev, flash dev, 3D designer, 2D designer, QA)
We comprised a team that was passionate about the technology. We asked who WANTS to work on this. This created a sense of dedication to delivering.
Challenge: Some of the team members were remote.
Solution:
We used Google Hang-out for video conference calls and chat rooms for ongoing conversations as well as traditional email and phone.
Challenge: The team had frustrations with process and deliverables.
Solution:
We meet bi-weekly to discuss challenges, frustrations and issues the team was having. We adapted our processes and deliverables to work for the team. After about 4 weeks the team was openly communicating and the frustrations diminished. Our bi-weekly retrospectives remained on the calendar but became unnecessary and were often canceled unanimously by the team.