My Work is Done, Now Back to Work

Last week my company moved the corporate headquarters data center. I designed the move, so I was a key player in every part of the project. I worked a couple of all-nighters, and counted up my hours for the week at 90+. Needless to say, I didn’t have the time to work on SinisterForces (or be with my family, or workout, or sleep, etc.). I’ve done data center moves before, and they always have last minute surprises which require the designer to work his or her butt off right before the implementation. This move was no exception in that department.

Yet the move was slated for a 30 hour window, and thanks to my design it was completed in 11 hours including a 1 hour dinner break. Good design = good results. We had the company back up and running with a minimal amount of downtime (currently I’m working on full site redundancy to eliminate downtime across the board). I told people that the move would be quick and relatively painless if we followed the design, and now any doubters before the move are believers following the move. Never underestimate the power of thinking the details through first and getting those ideas onto paper quickly for refinement later.

Now doesn’t that sound familiar to an RPG designer? Designing anything requires an attention to detail but not being hung up on the details. Get the big picture concept in place first by asking “What is the objective?” and then start a project to realize that objective. Break things down into tasks, and as you come across unforeseen details that need to be addressed create tasks for those as well. Don’t create tasks for details that have nothing to do with the objective (for example, SinisterForces beta release will have no artwork because artwork does not help me to meet my objective of releasing the game for play testing).

Anyhow, now that my professional life no longer requires my full attention I can start working on SinisterForces again. Designing an RPG is a completely different project from designing a new data center, but some of the skills used for one will transfer to the other. I hope that my success will be just as great with SinisterForces as it was with the data center move.