Big Yellow Bus

[lexaloffle]

At the last company I worked for, we sometimes referred to the Big Yellow Bus. It represented a sudden and unexpected removal of one of the members of our development team. A certain level of redundancy was called for - if someone was taken out by the bus, we didn't want their knowledge and expertise of the project to be lost with them, so we always tried to have at least two people who understood the more difficult portions of code.

Most indie game companies don't have that sort of redundancy. Not just for development, but for experience with business and administration procedures, knowledge of relationships with other companies, and vision for the direction of the company etc.

What would happen if you had an encounter with the Big Yellow Bus? Do you document all that stuff? Who would find it? Would your games carry on without you?

[Anthony Flack]

It would all disappear without a trace, except for Platypus which would probably keep being rereleased...

[ggambett]

I've seen this concept mentioned as the Bus Number of the project - the number of people a bus (presumably yellow) can run over without killing the project too. The bigger the Bus Number, the better.

There is some redundancy in Mystery. No single person can do everything I do, but everything I do can be done by someone else. I'm sure a new-me would eventually emerge relatively quickly. I have every Mystery-related email I've sent or received conveniently stored and backed up, so the info is all there. Besides we're still relatively few people so we discuss almost every decision internally; everyone is aware of what everyone else does.

[arcadetown]

This is where that cloning machine mentioned earlier comes in handy, but alas your clone ends up evil (drinks up all my liquor) and you have to kill him/her.

I have guys doing various tasks and runs quite nicely but alas if there was some hiccup I fear we're too thin and could cause issues. Budget really isn't an issue, it's having to manage & train 2x as much guys to have double redundancy. Perhaps easier to bite the bullet in case of emergency. Luckily I still can do everything here if needed, hope never comes to that. My theory is always KISS and keep resumes / contacts on file.

[bignobody]

At my day job we don't have the big yellow bus. We have our head of security. If he's waiting by your desk on the Wednesday morning before payday (this is the pattern we've all noticed), he's affectionately known as "the angel of death".

Generally if you make it past lunchtime, you're good for another 14 days :D

[lexaloffle]

I think my projects would disappear without a trace too. I do have all of my half finished games, correspondence and plans neatly documented and stored on disk (this is what prompted the question, actually). They just need a secondary custodian, is all.

I'm not so concerned with any kind of posthumous legacy, mind you. But the Bus idea seems to be a good measure of organisation and robustness to time and complexity. If someone else couldn't pick up your role (including a one man band role), then it might pay to clarify the workings of your business.

Recently I made an effort to automate everything I do as much as I can (within reason), document it, and creating sensible structures for managing information that passes through lexaloffle. It really didn't take that long but now that I have a more transparent, well-oiled machine, I feel my mind is much more free to concentrate on ridiculous game design ideas.

> Gabriel

As long as that stunts game you have stashed away wouldn't get on the bus with you, I'm happy.

> Anthony

Well, take care then.

But, really - I think you've attracted the interest of enough elves to finish making your shoes while you sleep. If you catch my drift.

[kay.altos]

Casulal and Indie games are simple ( for programming ) so I think you can allways start it from the begin anyway.

[Applewood]

There's only 3 of us and we're usually balls-out on projects that really should have more then 3 people on it. Therefore any one of us taking the bus would be pretty damned serious.

Problem is, I can't think of a solution othen than "if it's me, like I'm gonna care" which narrows the problem down to 2/3. lol

This is one of the few scenarious where a bigger company has some benefit, but even then the wrong people "leaving" can cause serious repurcusions.