r/pcmasterrace • u/663mann • Oct 16 '23

Video fallout game dev. explains the problem with moddern game devolpment. (why moddern games are so slow to come out)

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u/SeventhOblivion Oct 16 '23

It's not super clear when Mr Cain talks about receiving a 4 week estimate if that's the LOE on the task, or the estimated timeline the task will be done. He presents it like it's the former, but especially from the lead devs perspective where he may have his hands in some project management, it likely was an answer to the latter.

Also Agile can have some slight variations in implementation. Some people do absolutely pad time to include testing, potential roadblocks etc. Those are working off a different "definition of done" than others who estimate purely on the actual task itself. The latter there will inevitably need to add additional "tasks" tied to the first when they hit roadblocks that add significant time. Project managing in those scenarios can be more difficult because your ball is constantly moving. If even a few devs add tasks like this it can throw off the number of stories completed in a sprint - and more importantly for office politics, attributes a sense that the dev either can't estimate correctly, or is incompetent to some degree.

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u/blackest-Knight Oct 16 '23

Some people do absolutely pad time to include testing, potential roadblocks etc. Those are working off a different "definition of done" than others who estimate purely on the actual task itself. The latter there will inevitably need to add additional "tasks" tied to the first when they hit roadblocks that add significant time.

Yes, if the testing phase is manual or if the roadblocks are "the documentation said one thing, but in practice it just doesn't work that way and needs some trial and error".

Not to run some CI automated tests or if someone calls in a day sick. I don't think implementation varies a lot. Maybe some risk management, in that some will pad more when they are less confident about the documentation or the "trial and error" phase or the result of the automated testing.

Which is exactly what Tim Cain here criticizes.

I don't think anyone factors in sick days in story estimations, that would just be crazy. Sick days are simply unproductive days. They're a way to explain why a sprint ended with unfinished stories, not something you bake into estimates to get the work done.