Comments on: Our First Mistake Yep, we've got a couple of places like that set up in Liverpool already. We checked out one of them, but it wasn't a perfect fit for us. Great idea though, and I know several ex-Bizarre developers are already setup in areas like this. Yep, we’ve got a couple of places like that set up in Liverpool already. We checked out one of them, but it wasn’t a perfect fit for us. Great idea though, and I know several ex-Bizarre developers are already setup in areas like this.

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By: Mike Acton/2011/06/09/our-first-mistake/#comment-5700 Mike Acton Thu, 16 Jun 2011 04:23:58 +0000

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By: DevLinks: All Things Considered | DIYgamer/2011/06/09/our-first-mistake/#comment-5598 DevLinks: All Things Considered | DIYgamer Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:08:27 +0000 I agree with you in all the problems of working remotely. In our case we had as well to deal with other full or part-time jobs, which is another pain. We started doing meetings every weekend and skype connections, but at the end it became impossible to gather the team regularly, because our jobs had different schedules. We decided, given tha we were leaning everything, to work in separate little projects, with almost total freedom, but reporting every day progress, important decisions and problems to let all the team discuss and be involved. When one project was advaced enough, we gathered the team together to finish it up the time it needed. It worked enough well, taking into account that is not the best solution at all. It also was a useful tool to improve and evaluate the team commitment and confidence, because we had to let each other on their own most of the time. I agree with you in all the problems of working remotely. In our case we had as well to deal with other full or part-time jobs, which is another pain. We started doing meetings every weekend and skype connections, but at the end it became impossible to gather the team regularly, because our jobs had different schedules.

We decided, given tha we were leaning everything, to work in separate little projects, with almost total freedom, but reporting every day progress, important decisions and problems to let all the team discuss and be involved. When one project was advaced enough, we gathered the team together to finish it up the time it needed. It worked enough well, taking into account that is not the best solution at all. It also was a useful tool to improve and evaluate the team commitment and confidence, because we had to let each other on their own most of the time.

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By: Keith Judge/2011/06/09/our-first-mistake/#comment-5419 Keith Judge Thu, 09 Jun 2011 13:45:00 +0000 Thanks for sharing Richard; it's good to hear that other people are in the same mindset as us right now. :-) Yeah I looked at public transport, but unfortunately it's not convenient for the areas we live in. If we were all a little closer to the city it would be a no-brainer, but one of us is further out in the sticks. We also investigated moving house, but it's also not a working solution for other reasons. Perhaps that is the answer in the long run... I guess it depends on how the business grows over the next year or two. Thanks for sharing Richard; it’s good to hear that other people are in the same mindset as us right now. :-)

Yeah I looked at public transport, but unfortunately it’s not convenient for the areas we live in. If we were all a little closer to the city it would be a no-brainer, but one of us is further out in the sticks. We also investigated moving house, but it’s also not a working solution for other reasons. Perhaps that is the answer in the long run… I guess it depends on how the business grows over the next year or two.

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By: Ben-Ward/2011/06/09/our-first-mistake/#comment-5415 Ben-Ward Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:50:23 +0000 Nice analysis. I'm presently doing the working-remotely thing, and I definitely know the kind of thing you're talking about - ask each of us what we're making in general terms, and we'll all give you the same answer, but get down into the details and things start to diverge. It doesn't help that on my project the designer is also deliberately trying not to tell me too much about the gameplay, because he wants my reactions to be 'fresh' when I first play the game... We hold together, largely through both being pretty good at guessing what the other really means, and partly through having enough experience to be able to predict when we should keep something flexible because it's likely to get changed (either because of a misunderstanding to begin with, or in the course of iterating on the design). It helps that while we're far enough apart to make remote working easier, we're also not *that* far apart - about 20 minutes by car - so we can get together on a fairly frequent basis When petrol was too costly, did you look into the price of public transport as an alternative? Or even - at the more drastic end - moving house to be nearer each other? Nice analysis. I’m presently doing the working-remotely thing, and I definitely know the kind of thing you’re talking about – ask each of us what we’re making in general terms, and we’ll all give you the same answer, but get down into the details and things start to diverge. It doesn’t help that on my project the designer is also deliberately trying not to tell me too much about the gameplay, because he wants my reactions to be ‘fresh’ when I first play the game…

We hold together, largely through both being pretty good at guessing what the other really means, and partly through having enough experience to be able to predict when we should keep something flexible because it’s likely to get changed (either because of a misunderstanding to begin with, or in the course of iterating on the design). It helps that while we’re far enough apart to make remote working easier, we’re also not *that* far apart – about 20 minutes by car – so we can get together on a fairly frequent basis

When petrol was too costly, did you look into the price of public transport as an alternative? Or even – at the more drastic end – moving house to be nearer each other?

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By: Cam Jackson/2011/06/09/our-first-mistake/#comment-5413 Cam Jackson Thu, 09 Jun 2011 11:23:18 +0000