Week 6.1 – 10th March. 2021
The Retrospective
After looking at the article heartbeat retrospective, and closely at the common pitfalls, I understand this to be a workshop of reflection, structured with the steps as shown below;
- Regular meetings with your team to simply debrief.
- Everyone should feel comfortable to speak, just highlight a few areas, speak the facts only.
- Discuss the relevant areas that are currently affecting the iteration process.
- Have a couple solutions to work with, to keep simple.
Their are three main areas, that are considered throughout the retrospective;
- What should be started?
- What should be stopped?
- What should be continued?
My Start item will be: (marked with two stars **)
- Reading one journal article a week to inform your practice
- Writing a progress summary in your journal before you attend the webinar
- Writing a weekly plan to help structure the work **
My Stop item will be:(marked with two stars**)
- Burning the candle at both ends **
- Working in a silo and not seeking advice and support from peers
- Leaving it until the last minute to write in the journal
My Continue item will be: (marked with two stars**)
- Posting in the forums on a regular basis
- Follow tutorials as part of the self-directed practice**
- Attending the webinars
Both the start and stop items are used automatically when my SMART goals were noted, as they seem to follow through what I have put in place.
Retrospective is key to reflect on what happened, any iterative processes put in place which didn’t work, analyse why and devise a plan to avoid happening next time around. But keep simple.
Session 1 Rapid Ideation – Reflection
Looking back on the development of rapid ideation session one, I know for sure that there was room for improvement. I wish I had, had my SMART goals in place, and only learnt a little about 2D animation for example, and not to of tried using so many new applications, which just holted my progress altogether, and made me question, if I was even capable of learning a new technical skill this quickly.
Pages and Posts
That doesn’t even include, the fact of which I was struggling with writing a post on here, and realising I had my entries as pages, not posts. This was a big turning point for me, after working this out, I was able to add tags, and categories, to make my site more accessible. This is where I started to understand the need for an organised, well structured website.
Week 6.2 – 11th March. 2021
SMART – Ready – SET – GO !!
To reiterate, in this coming webinar, when we get out next rapid ideation tool to experiment with, I am going to do things differently.
I have my goals in place to help with organising my time:
- To do an equal amount of research; including reading, writing, watching, linkedIn learning, and practical.
- Make sure to stick with my idea, not to get distracted by all other possibilities.
- To learn new technical skills for an hour at a time, break, and try out what I have just learnt, rather than jumping to far ahead!
Since making my self SMART goals, I have started to continue reading ‘Level up’, to understand more about the process of creating a game from scratch. This is where I put my organised schedule into action.
In Chapter 4 ( level 4 ) titled; ‘You Can Design a Game, but Can You Do the Paperwork?’
Scott Rogers states;
“It’s no crime to be a perfectionist, but many design issues can be thought out and designed on paper first before a single pixel is rendered or a line of code typed.”
(S, Rogers. 2014. p90)
This immediately grabbed my attention, my determination of trying to create something that will look amazing on screen, and helping to engineer a game/ app or animation that you just can’t leave alone, is all I seem to focus on!
This is exactly what I have done with with my personal development, and because of trying to add code, and bring Ralphy to life in only a few frames, it was impossible to get a decent animated character.
I think it might be worth going back to basics, sticking with drawing and scanning my work, ideas and laying out concepts on paper, before even thinking of bringing my illustrations to life.
After all this is what Briggs would do when he originally created ‘The Snowman‘, and he is one of the illustrators, who pays very close attention to adding emotion and movement behind all of his sketches, before even laying them out onto a storyboard.
Week 6.3 – 14th March. 2021
Points to remember
Rogers also discusses in his book ‘Level Up‘, how important it is to be mindful of your peers, as we all have our own limitations.
We first discussed this in week one, talking about Scrum agile framework …It’s vital we have someone in charge, ideally that can make sure that each person, (when in a team) is doing their part, and has been assigned the correct area, that matches their skill.
Other wise, this could dramatically hold everyone up, especially when that person doesn’t quite understand what is expected of them.
Throughout this course, I feel like I am on the biggest learning curve ever, with excitement leading the way, I pinch myself just to check that what I am creating is real…and can be improved or developed in one way or another.
Kanban
I am now starting, very slowly, but surely to understand the nature of reflection.
I have started to read another book, which my partner has actually recommended;
The Toyota Way : 14 Management Principles; from the Worlds Greatest Manufacturer.
This actually links onto the Kanban Method that I have been practicing.
The book reveals the methods and approaches, used in production;
Jidoka – Originated from an invention from Toyoda, a carpenter who made wooden spinning machines, and in 1894 the manual looms he started experimenting with, were low in cost, but worked better than his existing looms.
“designing operations and equipment so your workers are not tied to machines and are free to perform value added work.”
J K, Liker. 2004 P16
This step would lead to the creation of a much broader System!!
Toyoda; Unhappy with seeing his mother, grandmother and friends working so hard, this sent him down his next path, and took production to next level.
“He wanted to find a way to relieve them of this punishing labor, so he set out to develop power-driven looms.”
(J K, Liker. 2004 p16)
This intention was crucial, and helped to build TPS (Toyota Production System).
- Jidoka (automation without human touch)
- JIT ( Just In Time) – to order what parts you are running out of, just before you do runout.
- Continuous Flow (focusing on today, and tomorrow)
- Kaizen (change for the better)
This is what brings us to Taiichi Ohno – the founder of the TPS, (Toyota Production System), which has a strong focus on Jidoka, Toyoda’s sons approach JIT, (Just In Time) and his own discovery Continuous Flow. He also talks about Kanban and Kaizen.
He compares Kanban to a gas gauge that is built into the car – when it signals – you know you need to fill up. As for Kaizen, making tiny improvements is just as important when achieving a lean goal, which eliminates all waste, that adds cost without adding to value.
References
Heartbeat Retrospective (2020). Available at: https://bit.ly/3b17dtO [accessed 10 March 2021]
ROGERS, Scott. 2014. Level Up ; The Guide To Great Video Game Design. 2nd edn. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
LIKER, Jeffrey K. 2004. The Toyota Way ; 14 Management Principles from the Worlds Greatest Manufacturer. McGraw-Hill.
RALPHY GETS ANIMATED..? 