Tag: Evaluating

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GDD730 - Module 2

Performing…

Week 7.1 – 9th July. 2021

Swot Chart Activity

We are asked to create a Swot Chart for this weeks activity, the aim is to analyse, the 4 headings below, and work out a solution as a team to all the problems, threats or weaknesses.

I understand this retrospective to not only be a fun one, but in someway, another bonding exercise, but I fear it may possibly create conflict again?

Hopefully this time though, we are more prepared, and ready for honesty. No one should get offended in anyway, but only realise that we are just trying to solve problems, with a positive outcome.

(Figure 1 : Team 2021 Swot Chart Miro Board)

Factors Affecting High-Performing Teams

Company’s who use teams, find them to be effective, helping to improve productivity, creativity and employee satisfaction.

“Teams bring together complementary skills and experience that exceed those of any individual on the team. This fact enables teams to respond to multifaced challenges like innovation, quality and customer service.”

(Castka, Bamber, Sharp, and Belohoubek 2001)

Castka, Bamber, Sharp, and Belohoubeks ethnography report discovers, that when you develop goals and approaches together, teams often establish stronger communication that can aid towards their problem solving and initiative skills.

HPT – High Performing Teams

Successful HPTs have defined their mission, vision and goals, which are understood by the team members.

“HPTs demand strong group culture, which is based on empowerment, shared vision, creativity, participation, learning ability, trust, and shared consensus.”

(Castka, Bamber, Sharp, and Belohoubek 2001)

Reflecting back on when we were introduced to each other 7 weeks back, I think if we had taken more time to share our goals and visions with each other beforehand, it would have helped to bond us and we may all still be together.

Or if the opposite effect would take place, and we didn’t stay together, it would be because of discovering, that we have similar skills to each other, and we would have realised, we needed more variety in the team to get a better balance of skills and personalities.

This reading now brings me to discuss, Measures of Performance. 

“Measures of performance (MoP) are a trigger to improvement and the reason why many improvement programs fail, is the lack of measurement”

(Castka, Bamber, Sharp, and Belohoubek 2001)

Castka, Bamber, Sharp, and Belohoubek, define that by means of a measure of performance, we are specifically talking about the success of the team.

Evaluating Our Team

Looking closely at this study, I have found a link, which I feel directly relates to our team.

‘as a factor affecting successful implementation of HPTs and it was quickly noticed that although the technical skills of the team were very similar, all being skilled engineers, managerial, personal and social skills differed immensely.’

(Castka, Bamber, Sharp, and Belohoubek 2001)

This is what we found when working in our team, there is two that code well, and the other two do art work, but in complete different styles.

However our social skills, are only from what we can see when we chat on webinars, we don’t actually know how each other copes in different scenarios, for example under pressure, change of ideas, loosing a team member etc…

But we are only now starting to really work together, sacrifices must be made, in order to move forward with the team development.

Measuring Team Performance

Metrics – come into play from all aspects of agile development, and help with high performing teams.

  • How to measure the success of the team
  • Teams must share what is important to them as a whole
  • You must not try to measure everything
  • You should avoid metrics that are; demotivating

Belinda Waldock discusses 2 kinds of metrics – Vanity metrics and Sanity metrics. She advises you to focus on the sanity metrics, due to them being more in-depth, helps the team grow, encourages a positive result, which my interpretation would be…”less talk and more action,” and in this case the “actions” speak louder than words.

Mike Cohn – Advanced Topics in Agile Planning 

Mike Cohn of Mountain Goat software, explains how the velocity metric can be used to improve the accuracy of agile planning. He quotes;

“Velocity is the amount of work that a team finishes or plans to finish within a iteration or sprint.”

(Cohn 2021)

I found the two planning scenario’s that could be applied to our team, listed as follows;

  • A team with no velocity. (A brand new team that does not know each other.)
  • A team changing size.(A team that seems to loose or gain a member, and the rest of the team needs to adapt.)

Applying the Velocity metric

  • A brand new team; Cohn states, that for a brand new team, that doesn’t know anything about each other, they should get together, take the backlog item, break it into tasks and divide by the amount of hours.

I believe that a brand new team, needs to get to know each other first, before dealing with backlog items…I think even from Cohn’s point of view, knowing what skills you have in a new team is crucial, but also you should know little more about them, what they enjoy, what they want to learn, and any strengths or weaknesses that aren’t noted.

Week 7.2 – 13th July. 2021

Research – Dodo Concept Drawing’s

During the later part of the week, we had discussed if possible, about adding some critters, or prehistoric animals to the game.

  • a) To show the characters trying to survive
  • b) To add more More depth to the game
  • c) To add a bit of fun to the game, by adding Dodos, and some Jurassic Geese.

(Figure 2 Norton 2021 Dodo) (Figure 3 Science Abc 2021 Dodo)

A snippet of how the game is looking so far…

The character is collecting goods, click and point as a test.

So far small stones and branches disappear when collected.

No one is keen on the stone slab at the top, as we all agree it takes up to much space.

(Figure 4 : Land, Lakin, Ward, & Norton Concept Art / Pixel / Game Mechanics GIF)

Team Flow Theory

In Van den Hout, Davis, O.C. and Weggeman’s journal of psychology, they discuss flow experiences, their findings show that when the individual is in the ‘flow state’, this is thought to be an enjoyable, rewarding, and engaging experience. From their research they help you to understand the benefits of being in a flow state, how it can aid with creativity, what you produce seems to be somewhat better, and over all better work performance.(Bryce & Haworth, 2002; Csikszentmihalyi & LeFevre, 1989; Fredrickson, 2001; Hektner, Schmidt, & Csikszentmihalyi, 2007; Massimini & Carli, 1988).

Flow is more likely to occur when people perceive a challenge or an opportunity for action that meets (or slightly exceeds) their skill level, which promotes deeper engagement.


(Van den Hout, Davis, O.C. and Weggeman 2018)
.

Nine Key Elements

Flow experiences tend to be characterised by nine key elements

Three of them have been identified as essential when entering the flow state.

  • (1) Clear goals at every stage of the activity;
  • (2) Clear and quick feedback on the individuals actions and progress
  • (3) Challenges, or opportunities for action, that needs more skill.
  • (4) A sense that one has control over the situation and no fear of failure, that is, a sense that one can deal with the situation because one knows how to respond to whatever happens next!?
  • (5) Intense and focused concentration on the activity at hand, such that all of one’s thoughts, effort, and attention are directed at the current task, and distractions are totally excluded from consciousness
  • (6) A merging of action and awareness, meaning that one’s involvement in an activity is so intense that the appropriate and constructive responses become spontaneous and automatic
  • (7) The loss of reflective self-consciousness, such that all concern for the self disappears and the person perceives a sense of unity with the activity
  • (8) A distorted sense of the passage of time
  • (9) Autotelicity — the activity is done for its own sake or is intrinsically rewarding, such that the stated goal tends to be an excuse for engaging in the process

References

Castka, P., Bamber, C. J.,  Sharp, J. M. and Belohoubek, P. 2001. Factors affecting successful implementation of high-performance teams. Team Performance Management, 7(7/8), pp.123-134.

Cohn, M. 2012 Advanced Topics in Agile Planning [online video]. Available at : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2r2KryYAaY (Links to an external site.) [Accessed 12/07/21]

Van den Hout, J.J., Davis, O.C. and Weggeman, M.C., 2018. The conceptualization of team flow. The Journal of psychology, 152(6), pp.388-423.

Csikszentmihalyi, M., Abuhamdeh S., Nakamura J. 2014 Flow. In: Flow and the Foundations of Positive Psychology. Springer, Dordrecht. Available at : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9088-8_15 [Accessed 14/07/21]

Parker, A. 2019 Metrics and Performance. Available at : https://flex.falmouth.ac.uk/courses/913/pages/week-7-measuring-team-performance?module_item_id=54482 [Accessed 09/07/21]

Fun Retrospectives 2021. Available at : https://www.funretrospectives.com [Accessed 09/07/21]

Full list of Figures

Figure 1 : Team 2021 Swot Chart Miro Board

Figure 2 Norton 2021 Dodo

Figure 3 Science Abc 2021 Dodo

Figure 4 : Land, Lakin, Ward, & Norton Concept Art / Pixel / Game Mechanics GIF

Categories
GDD710 - Module 1

Rapid Ideation – Session 1

Week 4.1 – 17th February. 2021

Part 1 : Setting the Theme

The Dixit card picked at random – From here we are to interpret however we want, and experiment with the artefact in anyway we please. 

Part 2 : Choosing a Headline

We are asked to pick a headline from a news website, newspaper, or magazine of choice.

(Figure 1: The Dixit card 2021 The Theme)

Ideation process – Brainstorm

I have began with a rather detailed brainstorm, I chose to base around 4 areas of the artefact, but then realised there is another 2 areas, they were staring me in the face the whole time. Very obvious, they were the wings, and a tail.

After the initial brainstorm was put into action, I felt excited and a little overwhelmed with how many opposites arose, and would need to be narrowed down. To get a crisp conclusion, I would now approach the second art board, using a different technique.

Please see Brainstorm below.

(Figure 2: Norton 2021 Dixit Brainstorm)

Simple Method

I wanted to reduce the words, but not just from my own choice. I used the simple technique, as explained below.

I closed my eyes, to keep the process quick – counted to 11, moved my finger over each section clockwise, then stopped. After doing this 6x, and counting to numerous numbers, changing the position to anticlockwise, then in different shapes…these are what arose from the simple technique.

  1. Tired
  2. Soft and Glowing
  3. Bright
  4. Fluffy
  5. Cord
  6. Uncomfortable in clothes

Please see Ideation Part 2 below.

(Figure 3: Norton 2021 Ideation Part 2)

Please see Ideation part 3 below.  

(Figure 4: Norton 2021 Ideation Part 3)

Evaluating Development

The 3rd art board – Shows me evaluating the 6 results, which I could have left at this point, but I decided to brainstorm the main areas one more time. This has led me to the final art board, revealing a general feel for my final interpretation of the essential points taken from the artefact, which will be combined with my headline. 

(Figure 5: Norton 2021 Ideation Part 4)

Result below

Having done my brainstorms, focusing on the key elements of the artefact, being; 

  1. Character expression
  2. Position
  3. Wings
  4. Tail
  5. Prop
  6. Colour of character

For me this is enough detail to remediate the original artefact and develop, alongside my headline. 

Week 4.2 – 17th February. 2021

Part 2 : The Headline;

I did what was required, not thought too deeply about the meaning of the headline. Just wanted to do a general search on animation magazines, and this is the headline I chose.

Animation Magazine: “Snail of a Tale: Tim Hill Gives Us the Scoop on ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run”

The word’s ‘snail, tale, scoop and sponge’, is what immediately captured my attention at first glance, and the more I delved deeper into the story that was behind the headline, I realised I could relate it to a new game creation, whether a new background, character, creative narrative script, sound, or audio atmosphere, the possibilities were endless.

Next to work with an alternative method for the headline.

New Method Storyboarding:

 After researching, I have decided to use the storyboard technique, due to it being a visual way of developing ideation skills, and one that you can easily amend.

At the moment, I feel like I am working backwards to go forwards. I would usually explore an image, by laying it out on paper, or digitally on Adobe Illustrator, and simply draw what comes into my mind. 

Instead I have brainstormed the artefact, and the outcome is a lot more clarified, then it would have been with me sketching numerous times.

Prototyping Tool

I have downloaded one tool that was noted for prototyping, called Toon boom, software for storyboarding and animation production. 

After watching the youtube videos, on Toon Boom’s Storyboard Pro, and Harmony 20. I found when making notes on how to use, yet another new tool that Storyboard Pro, seemed a little less in depth.

I could be wrong, however this is my next starting point.

Week 4.3 – 17th February. 2021

Storyboard Pro – First experience:

My aim was to create a character, and a new background for the start of a game or animation.I had a brief specification to start me off for my character development, following on from the start of the rapid ideation session.

I found the brushes on here easy to use. It is a straight forward process to adjust the size and shape, which is good for when you are working to a set time.

Brushes; what I used to create the look below; 

  1. Textured Wash – size 250 2) Pipe Cleaner – size 130 3) Pastle 2 – Size’s between 120-170

Character below : Ickle

(Figure 6: Norton 2021 Ickle)

Problem

However, after I had realised my character was on a solid white back ground…I thought I could easily change it in Storyboard Pro, like I do in Photoshop, select the eraser and take out the white, to create a translucent background.
Though this was not possible, which set me back a little, I then realised I would have to export it as a PSD or PNG, which I could then amend in Photoshop.

Solution

After having a brief discussion with Patricio, he recommended some of the other tools I could use to create animation. Luckily one of them was Photoshop.

I started following a step guide – on how to create a frame animation, in photoshop itself.
I worked with one background, as a normal layer. I only created 3 frames on top of my other layers to see how the character moved.

Below is all the frames I used to put together a Photoshop frame animation.

(Figure 7: Norton 2021 Ickle character poses)

Problem

I was pleased with this outcome, although it wasn’t that smooth, and after watching the 2d animation tutorial on LinkedIn, with Dermot, I wanted to look at adding a couple tweens, as he showed how they could help when transitioning one movement to the next.
Though when I added 5 tweens, to my frame animation… It didn’t look much different, even if I changed the opacity, position, or size. 

Conclusion

In my opinion, this was not working unless you wanted a very basic, almost ‘flip book’ style animation. This being my first proper animation experience, was quite quick to achieve, but I wanted it to be better.

After further research, I changed the option to video layers, because I have looked into Olaf Storm, who uses Photoshop, to create his animations using Video layers.

References

ZAHED, Ramin. 2020. Animation Magazine. Snail of a Tale: Tim Hill Gives Us the Scoop on ‘The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run’ [online] Available at: https://www.animationmagazine.net/features/snail-of-a-tale-tim-hill-gives-us-the-scoop-on-the-spongebob-movie-sponge-on-the-run/ [accessed 17/02/21]

Toon Boom Learn Portal. 2021 Storyboard Pro 20. Available at: https://store.toonboom.com/downloads/try/647 [accesed 17/02/21]

Full List of Figures

Figure 1: Dixit 2021 The Theme

Figure 2: Norton 2021 Dixit Brainstorm Adobe Photoshop

Figure 3: Norton 2021 Ideation Part 2 Adobe Photoshop

Figure 4: Norton 2021 Ideation Part 3 Adobe Photoshop

Figure 5: Norton 2021 Ideation Part 4 Adobe Photoshop

Figure 6: Norton 2021 Ickle created in Storyboard Pro

Figure 7: Norton 2021 Ickle character poses created in Photoshop