Risk Management
From IndieGuide
The words "risk management" probably provoke the same feeling as Project Management or Design Document. But again they do serve a good purpose, if used appropriately, that is where you need it and in an sufficiently effective way.
Risk management is essentially about helping you know about potential problems or hazards before they happen so that you can plan for (against) them or prepare countermeasures. As game development can be such a large undertaking even for Indies, it's highly recommended to think about obstacles before you start your journey.
Contents |
Terminology
Not sure whether it's important to be academic about the wording, but there are fine distinctions between certain terms.
- Problem: ...writing in progress...
- Risk: ...
- Management:
- Assessment:
The Need for and Benefits from Risk Management
Risk Management is similar to Project Management. You are given a method to systematically think ahead. This time you think less about tasks but about serious problems. The benefits are simple:
- Problems are potentially inherent in everything we do. We all know Murphy's law. Like it or not, it's most likely true.
- Regardless how thorough and professional you went through your risk assessment, even if you don't really put in place any countermeasures, at least you are aware of what might be coming. With this awareness you might spot it earlier or come up easier with a solution (maybe the back of your mind has subconsiously worked on the risk). Regardless of your process, it's likely you will have highlighted at least some of the big potential problems.
- You might have had a flash which made you cancel your project or alter it in a basic way, saving you a lot of frustration and wasted effort.
- You made an effort to deal with problems before they happened. When you face obstacles or failure, nobody (particularly yourself) can blame you of having approached your task blue-eyed.
Areas for Risk Management
You can focus your risk antennas on all kind of things:
- Evaluate the risks involved with your game idea. E.g. legal issues, moral conserns, commerical success.
- Evaluate the risks that you have in yourself in pulling off the game have in your head. Do you have the skills? Where are my weaknesses?
- Evaluate the risks in founding a company to bring a game idea to market.
- Evaluate the risks if you contract somebody to help you with your game.
You see the scope is wide. Some people might not agree that this is at all risk management. Never mind, the key is you have thought about problems ahead of time, and you are prepared for them, or at least consciously willing to take the risk. Label the process whatever you like.
Risk Management Methods
For now let's keep it simple. All you need to do is straightforward.
- (...in progress..., feel free to add to this)
