Comparative Reality

Still no definitive news. On Monday, I accepted that my producer has pretty much officially stopped caring, and that I had better get off my ass and try to save my job (as well as the job of the junior writer). Either he knows that he's going to be laid off, or he doesn't care one way or another. Which means that I've had to do all of that producer (manager) stuff.

I cleared this plan with the lead producer (his response was "Do what you need to do", i.e., "Do whatever you can to make sure you guys still have jobs"), and spent the day writing proposals and drafting a doc reorganization plan. Then another day of talking to people upstairs, asking what they would like to see documented. Fortunately, the answer is "a lot." The game's lead producer sat down with me and went over a very detailed list of doc requirements which is a hugely positive sign. (If he had said, "Oh, you? Well...why don't you spellcheck this Word doc?", then I would've started packing up my desk.)

On the other hand...he has a long, detailed list of requirements. So today I dragged the other writer into a conference room and spent an hour trying to figure out what we might be able to accomplish, what we could do now, to prove that we're useful, and how we'd start doing this. At some point, we'll probably be able to spend a day hashing out larger-scale doc plans.

This is a weakness of mine: I often don't spend enough time planning. I'm usually focused on getting something, written and out the door, so I find it difficult to justify "planning" as a good use large chunks of my time. Even if I'm just justifying that to myself. (Actually, especially if I'm justifying it to myself.)

Typically, I charge ahead, sketching out a rough plan and then making up the rest as I go along. But this style, which not entirely sensible, has been shaped by experience: I've written a lot of doc plans, and they're almost always seen as something to check off a list: Gather requirements, write doc plans, get to work. If I don't have a manager who cares about a doc plan, or other writers who depend on what I'm writing or need guidance (which has been the case for a bit over half my career), then I just skip the middle step and start writing.

Which is all a long way of saying: I'm writing a lot of planning docs this week. It's not exactly forging into new territory, but it's not my usual neighborhood.

At this point, though, I'm starting to become a bit concerned that by trying to gather enough tasks to justify our continued employment, we've piled too much onto our plate. If everything we've proposed is accepted, then we're going to be insanely busy for the next few months. Then we might be able to transition to a more relaxing "ludicrously busy."

On the other hand, if we pull this off: a) We'll be employed; b) I'm damn well going to fight for a game credit that's more impressive than "Engine Support."