After we all introduced ourselves, I gave a quick update on what activities we've done in the past and some that are in the works:

1. IGDA Leadership Forum - this was held last November in conjunction with the IGDA. It was a huge success and we are starting to make plans for the next one this fall.
2. Production Wiki - Adrien David is heading up this project. We have added a reading list and some other information to it. I would be happy to have people contribute to this whenever they want. I know that Chris Otalyn posted his roundtable notes from the Leadership Forum there. If you would like a log-in, please let me know.
3. Vendor Database - this is something I would like to get started on and I will try to work on getting something basic up and running.
4. Survey - About 65 people have taken the survey and I've collected some good data. I still need to collate the results and send around to the list. I plan to get that done soon.

We then discussed what we can do to make the SIG more useful to everyone:

1. There was a request to change the reply button so that it will just send the reply to an individual, instead of the Production SIG list. Thoughts? Let me know and if the majority wants this changed, I will make the change.
2. SIG endorsed Project Management method. We discussed how every project is different, but it might be useful to have a general PM method that we write up and endorse as a starting point.
3. Information on local Production SIG members. We talked about putting together a list of which local chapters members are affiliated with and perhaps trying to get a some local production SIG gatherings organized, in conjunction with the local chapters. This would present some good networking opportunities to connect with other producers in your city.
4. Production Seminars - in conjunction with the local IGDA chapter, we could do some production oriented seminars. A 2 hour seminar on managing pre-production for example. This would probably work best with some of the larger chapters at first, but it would be great to get a bunch of local production events organized.
5. Case Studies. We discussed doing case studies to show examples of games that used different types of PM methods and they can be modified for game production. This would provide some valuable real world information.
6. Advocating to students. We discussed taking with students more to explain what a producer does and perhaps get them interesting in pursuing a career in production. We discussed putting together a brief career plan of what classes to take, what to study and read, etc.
7. Role Definitions within different companies. We thought it would be useful to write up a matrix of how each company defines the production roles. For example and AP at EA has different responsibilities than and AP at Ubisoft. It would help us come up with some standard definitions of producers roles, and would be useful when evaluating resumes.
8. Evangelizing the Production SIG. There are still many producers who do not know about the SIG and would be interested in being a part of it. So please start inviting people to join the IGDA and become a part of the Production SIG.
9. Project Management Resource - gathering PM resources and discussing the general pros/cons of each within game development
10. Producer of Month - might be fun to feature a producer of the month. This person would be interviewed about their job, daily duties, tips and tricks for producing. This would be a good way to highlight the variety of projects people are working on - Serious games, educational games, interactive rides, virtual reality, and games
11. PMI - discussed working with the Project Management Institute on getting some type of game production module. This is something Jason Della Rocca discussed with them awhile back and it might be interesting for the SIG to pursue this further.
12. Government Proposal Process - post information on how this process works if you are developing serious games.
13. 10 Best Practices - one quick project we discussed was putting together a list of 10 best production practices. This doesn't need to be too fancy, just useful information that all producers could use. This is something that could easily be handled over the mailing list, and then we can post it on the website and perhaps publish in one of the IGDA monthly newsletters.
14. Cross-events to the Producer's Guild of America - Someone thought it would be useful to talk with producers in the film industry to get information on how they handle certain production issues. For example visual effects, or a voiceover shoot. The PGA might be a good resource for some cross-events, as they have started a New Media Caucus. These events would like happen in either Los Angeles or New York, as that is where the PGA is most active.
15. List of Volunteer Opportunities - we need to put together a list of the volunteer opportunities, so that people know how they can get involved. I will start a small list and we can build on it as we grow.

So as you can see, there are a lot of great ideas here. If you are interested in volunteering for anything please let me know. I am putting together a small group of volunteers who will discuss the projects and then we will pick a few to start on. Also, if you have any other suggestions on what you'd like, please let me know.

I hosted a round table where we discussed the future of the Production SIG and how to make this a valuable resource for all of us. Generally, many people felt that there was a need for some type of standard production terminology and job descriptions - just to get everyone on the same page when discussing production issues. The wide variety of producers and their role on a project, along with how producers can develop their career path were also major areas of interest. Here are a few ideas we came up with for some resources and information the Production SIG can provide:

1. Job titles and descriptions
2. Blueprints for producer career path
3. Identify core competencies
4. Outsourcing Database
5. Developer database
6. Case Studies on different situations a producer faces. (Perhaps modeled after Harvard Business Review)
7. List of due diligence questions to ask developers and vendors
8. Creating bid packages
9. Information on PMP certification - game module?
10. Help people plan for career development. Identify core competencies for each producer type, and then determine why type of training is necessary for these.
11. Information on Project Management Methods. Case Studies of different methodologies.
12. Information on scoping out a project
13. Information on Risk assessment and how to do risk analysis
14. Samples of project schedules and plans? Project archives?
15. Standardized naming conventions for different parts of production. Alpha/Beta mean different things to different companies.
16. Suggested Reading list

I will be working to implement some of these suggestions in the next few months, and create a plan for enhancing the usefulness of the production SIG to all of our members. If you have any feedback or suggestions, or are interested in volunteering, please contact me offlist at heather at mediasunshine dot com.

In addition, I will be hosting a gathering of the Production SIG at GDC in February. If you are attending GDC, please plan to attend. Talking to you in person is a great way to get feedback on how to make the SIG more viable for you.

http://www.igda.org/wiki/index.php/Production_SIG

This is an area where anyone is free to contribute their production knowledge, add to the list of resources, or suggest new areas we should explore. I hope that this will eventually become a widely used and centralized production resource. If you are interested in participating in this project, please contact Adrien David (adavid at soulsndrakes dot com).

Finally, the IGDA has been organizing a the first ever IDGA Leadership Forum that will be held November 8th and 9th in San Francisco. This is geared towards producers, managers, and leads and will feature a production and leadership track. Please watch the mailing list for more details.

In other news the Production Wiki has officially launched. Several people have volunteered to write content and we should soon be seeing some updates on the Wiki. If you are interested in contributing to the Wiki, please contact Adrien David (adavid at soulsndrakes dot com).

Some progress is being made on an IGDA sponsored event geared towards producers and managment. Look for details soon.

As always if you have question or suggestions about the SIG, please contact me - heather at mediasunshine dot com.

Also, in this month's IGDA newsletter, Brian Reynolds announced that the IGDA has begun a relationship with the Talley Management Group, a company specialized in the complexities of running operations for membership associations.

What does this mean for the Production SIG?

Well, we now have an easy way to set up organize and run dedicated Production SIG events. I know that a Production Retreat was discussed last year, but has been on the back-burner for awhile because of logistics. However, with this new relationship with the Talley Management Group, we can look at starting with some small with local events first. I would love to hear what everyone's thoughts are on such events. For example, we could do a 2 hour workshop on motivation, a one-day production conference, or anything else where people would like to meet others and get more in-depth information.

-Michael

He became producer in mid-stream when the previous producer had health problems. He discusses this unusual challenge, as well as moving from a director to producer role and getting the team through the grueling middle phase of development.

-Michael

Gamasutra recently posted a summary of a relevant talk by LucasArts' Chris Williams at the London Game Career Fair that just completed.

One passage of interest:

"(Williams) says that crunching for more than two weeks out of an eight-week period is a failure on the part of the project manager. 'If we’re smart about our development tactics, then we can deliver the game on time,' he says. 'It shouldn’t be typical that you’re working 60 or 70 hours per week on a regular basis,' he says, recommending that developers who are in that situation ought to look for another job."

Fortunately, none of us have worked anywhere where that happened...

Extended crunch is fundamentally an issue of scope, schedule and resources. Peel the onion on those, and you surface factors such as feature creep, productivity, and estimating skill. Project managers need to track vs. the plan and identify issues and potential solutions.

The ability of project managers to control the situation, however, varies with their role. Some have the authority to determine the "development tactics" and make decisions on things like scope and personnel, while others must rely on their communication and influencing skills.

Ultimately, successful project management depends on the project manager's ability to effect change, either directly or through receptive line and executive management.

-Michael

Also, I have compiled a list of production blogs that you might find interesting, if you have any others to add please let me know:

Clinton Keith, High Moon Studios

Noel Llopis, High Moon Studios

Chris Archer, Treyarch

Juuso Hietalahti, Polycount Productions

Jamie Fristrom, Torpex Games

Stuart Roch, Treyarch

Clay Dreslough, Sports Mogul

Jason Della Rocca, IGDA

Hope everyone is having a good year, I see lots of interesting discussions happening on the mailing lists. Don't forget the forums are also a good resource for you to utilize. If you have any questions or comments, don't hesitate to email me at heather at mediasunshine dot com.

-Michael

Then I went looking for information on how to be a game producer.

I found myself asking, “What does it take to be a good producer?” Should I have more technical skills? What about team building or scheduling? Given the lack of best practices and industry-wide processes (with the exception of a few GDC whitepapers), I relied on other industries for information. I read books on project management, software development, construction, film production, and sports management. I read anything I could get my hands on.

What I found between them all was one common theme – communication. If you’re going to work with people to accomplish any type of task, you need to be able to communicate with them. It doesn’t matter if it’s verbal, written, hand signals, or even telepathic. As producers it is our number one priority to communicate with our team and stakeholders. You need to be able to get information into the hands of others. This is the way that you as a producer will properly set expectations for your project.

Bill Petro understands this need and has recently written an article for Gamasutra entitled “Communication Tips for Game Producers” You can read the full article at the following link:

http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060905/petro_01.shtml

-Craig

Most recently, I was the project manager on Eragon at Stormfront Studios. Prior to that, I spent many years managing technology projects and products at companies including Apple, HP, GM Hughes and Charles Schwab. I studied electrical engineering and computers, but my interests include everything that's necessary to get a product out the door and make it successful.

As for gaming, my passion began with oldies like Trek-80 on the Sol computer and the Fairchild Channel F console. I wrote several games for the Apple II. Today, I am an avid console and PC gamer, and I struggle every day to find time to play some of the best from multiple genres.

For this first post, I'm highlighting some recent content about outsourcing. The use of outsourcing in game development seems to be growing, driven by a desire to lower costs ("your mileage may vary", as they say) and the sheer volume of assets now used in many games.

From a production standpoint, this shifts some of the challenge of managing internal resources and/or a primary developer to managing multiple company-to-company relationships, often across thousands of miles and many time zones.

GDC recently had their Game Outsourcing Summit. Although I didn't see any silver bullets, those in production might at least benefit from reviewing some of the checklists in the slides. Gamasutra also had write-ups of the presentations by Rajesh Rao (Dhurva Interactive) and Shiraz Akmal (THQ).

Comments are welcome: war stories, lessons learned, etc.

-Michael

More recently, I've been involved in the development community by participating in the AIAS & IGDA, sitting on the advisory board for Full Sail and the Albany, NY IGDA chapter, speaking at GDC, and helping out wherever I can. If you want to know more go ahead and Google me. You'll find all the other sites where I talk more about myself. :-)

But not here. Here I get to talk about game production. Or at least what I think I know of it. I'm going to use this space to put up articles that I find of interest (and that I hope you will too!) rant a little, answer some of your questions, and maybe, just maybe, provide enough information to make your job just a little easier.

So, let's start at the very beginning. What does a game producer exactly do? If you're already a game producer you've no doubt answered that question before, but recently Gamasutra posted an article by Marc Mencher entitled "So You Want To Be A Producer" that briefly summarizes it.

This article is obviously intended for those looking to become a game producer, but it's also a nice summary of all the things that are generally expected in the role. It's good to have articles like this to reference so I can actually see if I'm doing the same job everyone else is doing.

You see, I've answered this question plenty of times myself, but only recently have I boiled it down to this one line:

"A producer's job is to set and meet expectations."

To me, that sums it all up. You set expectations with your publisher, your developer, and yourself. If you can't meet these expectations then essentially you're failing at your job. How you go about setting and meeting expectations falls upon your style and authority, but never forget that you're the person that everyone looks to understand what's best for the project.

Interestingly enough, I had this conversation with an industry friend the other day and he boiled down what a game producer does to one word: auditor. In his mind that's all we do. We examine, verify, and correct issues.

What are your thoughts? Is there a way to sum up what we do?

-Craig

Please let me introduce myself. My name is Heather Chandler, and I've been working in game production since 1996. I've worked on over thirty games at Activision, Electronic Arts, Ubisoft, and Media Sunshine. In my spare time, I have taught seminars on game production, lectured at college classes, and published several books and articles about game production and localization.

I'm really looking forward to working with everyone to make this SIG useful and productive. If you've got ideas or suggestions, please send them my way (or post them on the forums).

I'm interested in learning what you need from this group, and how it can help you.

First, I'd like to thank Maja Persson from Shiny who has been handling our SIG mini-site since the beginning. While I wish Maja could continue to lend us her time and expertise in managing the site, she has taken on new responsibilities at Shiny and unfortunately cannot maintain the mini-site going forward. Dan Magaha from Firaxis who has been acting as our membership coordinator will now be taking on the added responsibility of maintaining the site in the future. Thanks for stepping up Dan!

While the SIG mail list discussion activity hasn't been as strong as it was a couple months back, we've still heard from some of you that the format has been problematic either due to the volume of SIG mail that's been hitting your inbox or because it was difficult to follow the discussion topics. Once again Dan Magaha is taking some initiative here and is experimenting with setting up a private forum for the production SIG community to take the discussion to. We'll keep you posted on how that shapes up as we perform more tests on the forum possibility.

I've been in contact with Dan Irish lately who as many of you know is heading up our first production SIG initiative, "Formalizing the Production Process." Though this one has taken longer than we expected to get rolling, we chalk that up to it being our first initiative and we're continuing to move forward. Dan and I will be making a renewed push to get this one on track in the coming month, so if you have already volunteered for a section keep your eyes out for a mail from either Dan or myself. Special thanks to those of you who have already submitted the section you volunteered for!

For those of you who were following Jason Della Rocca's thread recently about the proposed "Production Summit" we have some exciting news. The IGDA board of directors met recently and have green lit some more study into the possibility of making this conference a reality. Jason will be in contact with the mail list shortly to form a task force of volunteers to do some more ground work on the next steps.

As always, thanks for your participation. We have almost 200 producers and project managers involved with the SIG and appreciate your interest and involvement!

If you have any comments or suggestions on how to make the SIG more engaging or valuable, please don't hesitate to drop me a line.

Stuart Roch
Chairperson, IGDA Production SIG