Planning in a highly creative environment

[GamesGuy]

I've been looking at this forum for a little while, and feel like I've just discovered a gold mine at the bottom of my garden!
It's nice to see a bunch of people who all know what they're talking about.

For more years than I care to think about, I've been project managing computer games. This, as you can imagine is a whole different world to, say managing the construction of a major building project or a bridge.
The biggest difference, I can see is the matter of creativity. How often in the life of a building project does the client decide that they want to add 10 more floors or change the colours of the windows?

I saw another post in the forum asking whether successful projects are due to luck or skill - clearly, having had so many successful projects, I'm going to have to admit to having at least SOME skills but I can't help thinking that a fair dollop of luck has been involved too.

Quite often, I find that in the games industry, formal approaches fall over. Some teams like to use agile methods to ride the wave of change, but the corporate and business heads like to see a fully laid out plan.

Happily for me (said the eternal optomist), I'm off work for a couple of weeks due to stress and so I'm going to spend some of that time exploring the 'real world' of 'proper' project management and see if I can bring a little more order to my environment.

I'd be interested to hear other people's views on project management in such a creative and changable environment!

(I'll even offer a shoulder to cry on!)

Cheers all,