Time Boxing Experiment Results
Over the month of June and partially for the month of July I did a small experiment into Time boxing. I do admit that I like the idea of time boxing so I approached it with enthusiasm.
Of course no plan survives first contact and it became clear that the idea of using time boxing to managed some larger projects was just not really doable. I had planned to have three streams but switching between streams 3 or 4 times an evening just did not really work out.
I originally planned to start creating a game targeting the android platform while at that same time working on some simple HTML5 games as well as boxing of some time for learning new things. Switching between the two game dev projects was just a little bit too much. I found myself only really thinking about one or the other for an evening even when trying to focus on the topic at hand.
The learning new things went a little better, practicing drawing and improving my inkscape skills did happen and was relatively easy to flip in to during the allotted time.
So what did I learn. Well my brain is not really cut out for having too topic that are close to each other going on at the same time. Flipping between then was just a little bit too hard. I think because the HTML5 game dev and the android game dev both required me to give a lot of focus and energy on them meant it was destined to fail. Perhaps if I was in a situation that one of them had been more maintenance style of development then it would have worked out better as on one would have required my creative attention.
The experiment was sort of a success in the sense I learned a fair bit but not a success in terms of gaining productivity.
Looking at this it is clear I cannot develop an android game as well as HTML5 games at the same time by flipping my time between them. I need to focus on one game at a time. I decided to drop the planned android game and focus on some HTML5 short games. I may remake some of my android games just for fun and experience.
At the same time I will add some learning into the day to ensure some balance.
Of course no plan survives first contact and it became clear that the idea of using time boxing to managed some larger projects was just not really doable. I had planned to have three streams but switching between streams 3 or 4 times an evening just did not really work out.
I originally planned to start creating a game targeting the android platform while at that same time working on some simple HTML5 games as well as boxing of some time for learning new things. Switching between the two game dev projects was just a little bit too much. I found myself only really thinking about one or the other for an evening even when trying to focus on the topic at hand.
The learning new things went a little better, practicing drawing and improving my inkscape skills did happen and was relatively easy to flip in to during the allotted time.
So what did I learn. Well my brain is not really cut out for having too topic that are close to each other going on at the same time. Flipping between then was just a little bit too hard. I think because the HTML5 game dev and the android game dev both required me to give a lot of focus and energy on them meant it was destined to fail. Perhaps if I was in a situation that one of them had been more maintenance style of development then it would have worked out better as on one would have required my creative attention.
The experiment was sort of a success in the sense I learned a fair bit but not a success in terms of gaining productivity.
Looking at this it is clear I cannot develop an android game as well as HTML5 games at the same time by flipping my time between them. I need to focus on one game at a time. I decided to drop the planned android game and focus on some HTML5 short games. I may remake some of my android games just for fun and experience.
At the same time I will add some learning into the day to ensure some balance.
Comments
Post a Comment