My friend LessThanPi and I are currently working on a micro-game together that is inspired by “Gnat Attack” from Mario Paint on the SNES. Pi is the leading the charge as the game director and artist while I’m filling in on the coding related tasks.
Here’s an picture of in progress work with all our buggies! Pi is a great artist.
The first couple weeks were a bit tough for both of us jumping from part-time solo development into collaboration mode. With my own schedule, I knew that it would help keep me accountable if there was something more concrete for me to look at. I use ToDoist as my own personal task management system and Pi had the suggestion that we use it to bucktet tasks into 3 key areas.
Our “Core” tasks include everything we know we can’t ship without. Our “Polish” tasks are the items that are important to have, but make more sense to add once everything else is in place first. Our “Someday” tasks are the things we’ll get to next week, for sure.
With our to do list in place and our buckets identified, all that was left was filling them up with work. We took about two hours to get all the ideas in Pi’s mind out onto paper and into these buckets. I asked him follow-up questions to get a clear understanding of what he expects to happen in different scenarios. At the end of the conversation, we identified a handful of items that we wanted to see completed within the next week and then we hung up and went about our weeks.
While this all may seem very rigid and forced, it actually freed me up to focus on specific tasks at hand. The loop between planning and doing overrides our natural tendency to get stuck in either analysis paralysis or mindless work. With a one week deadline, we have to pick and choose what needs to make it and what can get cut. The week is up to me to decide how I want to get it done, but I also know that I am expected to finish what has been assigned to me.
Slowing down to plan, sketch, and outline makes such a big impact for any large task. It’s even more important when collaborating with others. While I’d like to just jump right in and make the perfect thing in the first go, it always works out better in the long run to spend way more time planning than I am doing. After that it’s just a matter of switching between the two.
Send me a reply if you’re currently in a planning or doing loop! I’d love to know what you’re working on and if there’s a milestone that’s looming ahead of you.
Talk soon,
Connor