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Quality of Life in a Global Game Industry Speakers: Casey O'Donnell Track: IGDA Format: Lecture Experience Level: All Description: The rise of game development shops across the globe, and the increased use of offshore and inshore outsourcing could have developers feeling like they are losing leverage in making arguments for good quality of life practices. But, do globalization and the ability to outsource work really abdicate the need for quality of life both at home or abroad? This lecture examines the ways in which the hidden costs of poor quality of life, such as, staff churn, rework, schedule slippage, and lost sales negatively impact bottom lines. It looks at the benefits of good quality of life and correlates with some of the sales numbers of different studios. Mechanisms for approaching management are discussed, what are they interested in hearing? Is making the argument to management purely a numbers issue, or is management interested in other metrics? Each of these areas is also examined in the context of globalized game production, and provides developers with new levers for making quality of life arguments in this context. Developers will find this session useful to petition for an enhanced QoL environment. Idea Takeaway: The primary takeaways from this session are the presentation of management levers that developers can use to argue for the impacts of good QoL. Developers can use these levers when speaking to management for improving QoL. These levers will address three primary areas: - Costs of Bad QoL
- Benefits of Good QoL
- Levers for Improving QoL
- Outsourcing Still Requires Attention to QoL
Intended Audience: The intended audience for this session is any developer or manager who would like to better understand QoL and its effects. This session is also aimed at developers and managers interested in recognizing how offshore and inshore outsourcing can conceivably affect QoL issues both at home and abroad. |
