Scrum and sprints may work for party games, however, there are major challenges when creating complex games that requires experts in everything from 3d-modelling and character design to lore and then physics/game mechanics. How do you navigate something that is super complex with a large amount of dependencies that doesn't exactly have the ability to have a 'potentially releasable increment' each sprint?
Thanks for posting @luckes5631. With any Agile approach, Scrum in particular, the goal isn't to take the way the work is traditionally approached and make it fit into Sprints. It's to change the way the work is done. Sprints afford faster feedback loops so that everyone can adapt accordingly. It's not a matter of "will it fit" - it's a matter of rethinking the way the work is approached. Laura shared her firm's willingness to approach the work differently and successes they are experiencing. You may want to check out Riot Games also. They found titles of PO and SM limiting but embraced Agile ways of working with cross-functional teams, increased transparency in shorter cycles (sprints or iterations), etc. Navigating complex work is precisely what agility is about. But it does require everyone involved agreeing to rethink the approach.
@@agileangela If Riot isn't adhering to PO and SM accountabilities, then they are not technically doing Scrum. There are few mandatory aspects to the scrum framework, but any non-adherence to these mandatory aspects would make it something other than scrum or an anti-pattern. I understand the short and focused feedback loop that a spirit allows, but the rest of the framework is quite explicit in what must be adhered to, hence "framework". This is why I asked about highly sophisticated games. I have yet to see one use Scrum as per the Scrum guide. If anything, they are using agile ceremonies with more of an unFix design pattern approach.
@@lukes5631 true if "doing Scrum" is the goal. Riot happens to post on their website exactly what they experiment with in the name of "agile". Scrum is a framework for delivering valuable product to customers more readily. If whoever that customer is finds the outcome satisfactory - does it matter? If that customer is less than pleased then maybe it's worth looking at Riot's delivery-method. If it's determined that value delivery could be improved by having an authoritative person to give work direction to the developers after weighing all the requests (the scrum guide calls this accountability PO) or a neutral to facilitate, remove impediments and improve inter-team collaboration (the scrum guide calls this accountability SM) - than maybe there's something they need to take a look at. But "doing Scrum" shouldn't be anyone's goal. Delivering valuable product to customers is goal. Scrum is one way that could happen but there are also others. If you check out Alex Preston and Hyper Light Drifter, the word Scrum is never used yet the iterative way that art evolved is congruent with an "agile" way of working. Will Scrum work for any organization? That is entirely up to THAT organization (the people in it).
Great conversation with Laura! I love examples of Scrum in all kinds of industries and this was fun to learn more about a firm that makes video games!
very valuable interview, great video!
Thank you both! I will use Scrum as the main methodology in my Final Paper.
Scrum and sprints may work for party games, however, there are major challenges when creating complex games that requires experts in everything from 3d-modelling and character design to lore and then physics/game mechanics. How do you navigate something that is super complex with a large amount of dependencies that doesn't exactly have the ability to have a 'potentially releasable increment' each sprint?
Thanks for posting @luckes5631. With any Agile approach, Scrum in particular, the goal isn't to take the way the work is traditionally approached and make it fit into Sprints. It's to change the way the work is done. Sprints afford faster feedback loops so that everyone can adapt accordingly. It's not a matter of "will it fit" - it's a matter of rethinking the way the work is approached. Laura shared her firm's willingness to approach the work differently and successes they are experiencing. You may want to check out Riot Games also. They found titles of PO and SM limiting but embraced Agile ways of working with cross-functional teams, increased transparency in shorter cycles (sprints or iterations), etc. Navigating complex work is precisely what agility is about. But it does require everyone involved agreeing to rethink the approach.
@@agileangela If Riot isn't adhering to PO and SM accountabilities, then they are not technically doing Scrum. There are few mandatory aspects to the scrum framework, but any non-adherence to these mandatory aspects would make it something other than scrum or an anti-pattern.
I understand the short and focused feedback loop that a spirit allows, but the rest of the framework is quite explicit in what must be adhered to, hence "framework". This is why I asked about highly sophisticated games. I have yet to see one use Scrum as per the Scrum guide. If anything, they are using agile ceremonies with more of an unFix design pattern approach.
@@lukes5631 true if "doing Scrum" is the goal. Riot happens to post on their website exactly what they experiment with in the name of "agile". Scrum is a framework for delivering valuable product to customers more readily. If whoever that customer is finds the outcome satisfactory - does it matter? If that customer is less than pleased then maybe it's worth looking at Riot's delivery-method. If it's determined that value delivery could be improved by having an authoritative person to give work direction to the developers after weighing all the requests (the scrum guide calls this accountability PO) or a neutral to facilitate, remove impediments and improve inter-team collaboration (the scrum guide calls this accountability SM) - than maybe there's something they need to take a look at. But "doing Scrum" shouldn't be anyone's goal. Delivering valuable product to customers is goal. Scrum is one way that could happen but there are also others. If you check out Alex Preston and Hyper Light Drifter, the word Scrum is never used yet the iterative way that art evolved is congruent with an "agile" way of working. Will Scrum work for any organization? That is entirely up to THAT organization (the people in it).