Staying Sane Inside Insanity - ECGC Edition

Stay Sane Inside Insanity
Identifying Toxic Game Development
Environments -- Billy Joe Cain 4/24/14
billyjoecain@gmail.com

What the Hell do I know?
22 year career as: an employee of a publisher, an
outside developer, a studio owner, a contractor, a
solutions provider, and an adviser to colleges and
universities.

What the Hell do I know?
Worked with developers on a lot of projects from just
about every angle possible from Quality Assurance to
Studio Founder.
Executive Producer is most recent role.
Currently working as Executive Recruiter with career
development as my focus.
One thing is certain. Our industry is crazy. Sometimes
crazy is good and sometimes it isn’t.

Topics
• Crunch Definition and Legality
• Crunch Effects on YOU
• Crunch Effects on Productivity
• Toxic Examples
• Abusive Managers / Bullying
• More!
• Resources for Self-Help
• Tweet with #ECGCtoxic if you like

Know your Enemy: Crunch
Whoa. This always makes me take a deep
breath.

Crunch: My Experience
I had heard about “crunch.” I was prepared for the extra hours.
I didn’t have family in town or a steady girlfriend, so it made
the extra work that much easier.
Over the years, my friends started wondering where I
disappeared to. When I’d finish a project, we'd hang out again
until crunch happened on the next project and the pattern
repeated itself. Now, I hardly even see those friends.
They got tired of waiting.
Some of you may have experienced this, some of you may be
heading into it...

Merriam Webster says
Crunch Time is:
A critical moment or period when decisive
action is needed
Source: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crunch%20time

The REAL WORLD says
Crunch Time is:
• The interval of time immediately before a project is due, when it becomes
apparent that the schedule has slipped and everyone is
going to have to work like dogs to try to complete the project in time.
Crunch time usually occurs during the period between the next-to-last scheduled milestone
(prior to which everyone was able to delude themselves that the
schedule had NOT slipped) and the final deadline for delivery. During crunch
time, workers are in crunch mode. Prevalent in the software industry, but used elsewhere as
well.
• "We've got three weeks left to complete six weeks worth of work. Looks like we'll be living
on take-out for a while."
• "I freakin' hate crunch time.“
Source: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=crunch+time

Crunch: “Kinda Legal” Definition
Forced or mandatory overtime
“[G]enerally legal, at least under federal law.
State laws differ from state to state.”
“If an employee refuses to work overtime when
requested to, the employer has the right to
penalize the employee. Such punishments may
include termination.”
http://www.legalmatch.com/law-library/article/forced-overtime.html

Is there “Healthy” Crunch?
Healthy?
– Working extra hours for a short period of time to adjust for
the unpredictable nature of technological edginess.
– Ideally the additional effort is rewarded with compensatory
time off.
Unhealthy?
– Throwing yourself on the pyre to make up for a chronically
under-scoped or under-funded project.
– Success is rewarded by more work!

Crunch: Lack of Productivity
“There's a bottom-line reason most industries
gave up crunch mode over 75 years ago: It's the
single most expensive way there is to get the
work done.”
– Evan Robinson
http://legacy.igda.org/why-crunch-modes-doesnt-
work-six-lessons

Crunch: Lack of Productivity
“More than a century of studies show that long-term
useful worker output is maximized near a five-day, 40-
hour workweek. Productivity drops immediately upon
starting overtime and continues to drop until, at
approximately eight 60-hour weeks, the total work
done is the same as what would have been done in
eight 40-hour weeks.”
– Evan Robinson
http://legacy.igda.org/why-crunch-modes-doesnt-
work-six-lessons

Crunch and YOU
How does crunch affect you physically, mentally,
and the like?
• Studies point to many health issues, both
physical and mental.
• Oddly enough, this subject has been studied in
other industries ad nauseam but it's important
to us to pay attention.

According to the National Institutes of Health, “[C]ontinued
overtime work should be recognized as an independent
risk factor for the development of sleep disturbances.
Sleep disturbances can have a significant negative effect
on an individual's quality of life, and the consequences
associated with sleeping disturbances are serious
including, for example, a higher risk of accidents due to
fatigue, increased risk of all-cause mortality,
cardiovascular diseases* and mental disorders,
increased sickness absence rates, and substantial
medical care costs.”
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690560/
* see next slide
Crunch: Physical Effects

Overtime work is probably best considered as a form of
work stress.
Chronic work-related stress is associated with a 2- to 4-
fold increase in cardiovascular events, particularly when
there is little control over the work environment.
[T]he excess risk of coronary heart disease in employees with
high decision latitude was smaller than in those with lesser
decision latitude.
In other words, it's better to be the boss.
http://eurheartj.oxfordjournals.org/content/31/14/1672.full

Getting six or fewer hours of sleep each night is just like
being drunk. Consider that in most states the legal blood
alcohol content is .08.
When you’ve been up for 18 hours, studies show that
you function as if your blood alcohol content were .07.
After 24 hours without sleep, you’re at 0.1 the same as a
drunk driver.
http://www.corrections.com/news/article/23187-mandatory-overtime-sleep-deprivation
P.S. The Correctional Industry is extremely interested in
safety.

[L]ong working hours may be one of the risk factors
that have a negative effect on cognitive performance in
middle age.
As mild cognitive impairment predicts
dementia and mortality, the identification
of risk factors for mild cognitive
impairment in middle age is important.
Long Working Hours and Cognitive Function
The Whitehall II Study
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2727184/
Crunch: Mental Effects

Crunch and your RELATIONSHIPS
How does “crunch” affect your relationships?
Significant other
Close friends
Family
Children
This is a thought exercise. So think.

Know Your Enemy: Environmental
There is another enemy out there that is
quite possibly worse than crunch.
• A toxic development environment.

Do you work in a Toxic
Development Environment?
• In the video game industry we have some
serious, insidious problems that we don’t
really talk about. And I think we should.
• One of those problems is that development
environments themselves can be toxic, and
affect you just as much (or more) than crunch.
• Maybe you don’t even know any better?

Know Your Enemy: Warning Signs
• There are clear signs that you are in an
unhealthy company; crunch is only ONE
of the indicators.
• How to fix these? Do the opposite!

What is Toxic? Bullies
• A “bully” could be a peer, an immediate
supervisor, the owner of the company,
an untenable contract, or a publisher.
• Abuse comes in many forms, verbal,
mental and physical.
• This abuse also affects your friends and
family.

What is toxic? Bullying
What is bullying? Repeated, health-harming
mistreatment of one or more persons (the
targets) by one or more perpetrators that
takes one or more of the following forms:
• Verbal abuse
• Offensive conduct/behaviors (including nonverbal) which
are threatening, humiliating or intimidating
• Work interference – sabotage – which prevents work
from getting done
http://www.healthyworkplacebill.org/

Bullying: The Problem
It is a problem that has invaded the life of 37% adult
Americans without invitation. In its more severe forms,
it triggers a host of stress-related health complications --
hypertension, auto-immune disorders, depression,
anxiety to PTSD. The person's immediate job and often
career are often disrupted.

Bullying: A Solution
The Healthy Workplace Campaign
• 26 States since 2003 have introduced the
Healthy Workplace Bill
• No laws yet enacted
• 15 states with 21 bills active

What the Healthy Workplace Bill Does for
Employers
• Precisely defines an "abusive work environment" -- it is a
high standard for misconduct
• Requires proof of health harm by licensed health or
mental health professionals
• Protects conscientious employers from vicarious liability
risk when internal correction and prevention
mechanisms are in effect
• Gives employers the reason to terminate or sanction
offenders

What the Healthy Workplace Bill Does for
Workers
• Provides an avenue for legal redress for health
harming cruelty at work
• Allows you to sue the bully as an individual
• Holds the employer accountable
• Seeks restoration of lost wages and benefits
• Compels employers to prevent and correct future
instances

Toxic Budgeting / Finances
• Project was originally budgeted with no input from
the team that would be doing the work
• The company is unwilling to write an expense
check; instead, they expect everyone to just find a
way to get it done. “Don’t you know how to install
an air conditioner?”
• The “company will fail” if everyone doesn’t “pull
together.”

Toxic Staffing Issues
• Not enough staff to reach project goals
• Not enough experienced staff that know how to
avoid “rookie mistakes”
• Too few people wearing too many hats
• Positions are poorly defined with no job
descriptions

Toxic Staffing Issues
• “Single” staff members outnumber those with families
• “Single” staff show resentment toward those with
families
• High annual turnover
• No exit interviews or listening to people leaving the
company
• Requiring overtime with no notice; then being upset
when employees cannot work said overtime

Toxic Scheduling
• Milestones are vague or completely undefined
• Ship date is “locked” on an arbitrary date. If the date
is missed, another arbitrary date is chosen with no
regard to reality and what is possible.
• Product demos are unscheduled and are often
surprises
• Management has no idea how many hours the team
or individuals are working
• No accountability in tasks

Toxic Scheduling
• Effectiveness is irrelevant; management only notices the
quantity of hours employees are in the building
• New tasks continually pull key staff away from their main
responsibilities
• Vacations are non-existent, i.e. you cannot use your
accrued vacation time because the project is “too
important.”
• No compensatory time off is given
• Endless overtime, i.e. crunch. Didn’t think we’d leave that
out, did you?

Toxic Project Management
• Feature list is vague, unrealistic, or non-existent
• No clear plan to completion
• The rule is “Work Harder” with no clearly
defined idea of what that means or what the
specific goals are
• Management has no idea “how the sausage is
made”
• Continual scope creep

Toxic Project Management
• Design (or anything, really) by committee
without anyone that can have a final decision
• Micromanagement
• Never take the time to celebrate any
milestones, no matter how large or small
• Employees are told when they doing a bad job;
never when they are doing a good job

Toxic Product Support
• Quality Assurance is not hired until the last
possible minute (or later, or not at all)
• Customer Service issues are ignored or not
planned for in any way during product
development
• Lack of community management plan
• Website is unmanned or inaccurate

Toxic Inequities / General Stupidity
• Nepotism / favoritism / sycophants
• Employees are more concerned with people “liking”
them than getting the job done
• Management demands respect instead of earning it
• Management habitually leaves before or arrives after
the bulk of the employees finish their workday
• A huge gap in automobile value in the parking lot

Toxic Inequities / General Stupidity
• No need to hire a cleaning service when management
can just make everyone (besides themselves) clean
toilets
• Management expenses lunches / events with sycophants
• Management takes vacations, leave to see their
children’s plays, and the like while everyone else is
forced to stay in the office
• Management writes vague emails and are upset when
you cannot read between the lines or read their minds

Helpful Resources
• Resources exist that allow you to get
help for yourself or others that are
suffering through crunch and/or are in
toxic environments.

Some Books for Inspiration
The Mythical Man Month:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mythical_Man-Month
Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams:
http://www.google.com/shopping/product/8732329471760615040?hl=en

Some Links for Help
• Mental Health Support Resources:
http://www.mhatexas.org/mhatexasMAIN/IRGuide4.03.pdf
• Coping with stress checklist: http://www.nmha.org/index.cfm?objectid=c7df9899-
1372-4d20-c89412d66a4ff88d
• Am I Bipolar Quiz: http://psychcentral.com/quizzes/bipolarquiz.htm
• Am I a Workaholic Quiz:
http://www.cnn.com/interactive/2011/05/living/workaholic.test/index.html
• Is your boss Bullying you? http://undercoverlawyer.hubpages.com/hub/10-
Signals-The-Boss-is-Bullying-You
• Toxic Workplace Quiz: http://excelle.monster.com/benefits/articles/5573-
workplace-checklist-how-toxic-is-yours

Some Links for Help
• Discrimination Facts (Texas)
http://www.twc.state.tx.us/crd/facts.html
• Unemployment benefits (Texas)
http://www.twc.state.tx.us/ui/bnfts/bi-99.pdf
• How to collect back wages.
http://www.ehow.com/how_7653930_collect-back-
wages.html
• Am I a contractor or an employee?
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_IndependentContractor.htm
• Overtime pay.
http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/fairpay/main.htm

Staying Sane Inside Insanity - ECGC Edition

Recomendados

Recomendados

Mais conteúdo relacionado

Semelhante a Staying Sane Inside Insanity - ECGC Edition

Semelhante a Staying Sane Inside Insanity - ECGC Edition (20)

Último

Último (20)

Staying Sane Inside Insanity - ECGC Edition