Sprint 001 reflection

What did we accomplish?

• We implemented the Trello, which gives the fans more visibility into what's being worked on.
• We added loads of new avatar outfits, including:

Evening gown
JIT crash site investigator
Syria warfighter
Navy blue skirt suit
R&R leave summer dress
Norway winter outfit
Operator casual outfit

• We implemented the relationship tables.
• We added an experience point (XP) and levelling system.
• We streamlined the master skill list, and added lots of opportunities for the agent to gain skill XP during the Lifepath.
• We improved the skill rolls present in the game, providing better player feedback and clearer explanations, and adding a "critical success" rule so rolling a natural 10 succeeds at any dice roll.
• We added avatar makeup to many Lifepath scenes.
• We created 3D Illustrator meshes that will speed up artwork production in future.
• We added a new avatar feature, allowing her hands to be restrained behind her back.
• We updated the character sheet, so it displays the agent's attributes, skills and number of sexual partners.

 Did we meet the sprint goal?

• No, we did not release Female Agent 1.4 in a polished state.  We released a Beta test version instead.

 What worked really well this sprint?

• On several occasions, I felt an urge to work on things that weren't in the sprint plan, but the sprint plan helped me stay focused.
• I feel like I communicated much better with the rest of the team and the community.
• Better organisation enabled the team to work concurrently, which sped up production.
• I feel like we produced more in a shorter time than we would have done without this new process.
• Even though we didn't hit the sprint goal, we still released something on the release date.  That's the first time that's happened in Female Agent's history.
• I organised my personal time better, with dedicated dev days (instead of just trying to work on the game all the time).  This meant I took better care of my life and my real job on non dev days, which meant that I had fewer emergencies to deal with.

What could have worked better?

• My pomodoro estimates for most tasks were too low.  Almost everything took more time than I envisaged.
• I should have allowed more time for polishing, testing and review.  Too often, things were marked "done" when they still needed testing really.
• I could have set the goal more intelligently.  In hindsight, a Beta release was more achievable than a polished version.
• We launched with very little relationship table content.  This is something Hyneman repeatedly asked me for, and I kept pushing it back until it was too late to produce.  Tasks like this, which require lots of creativity, are better tackled a little bit every day rather than in one big chunk – I could have organised this much better.
• In the final week, I skipped exercising and ate really unhealthily.

Notes

• Even though we were only able to release a Beta, I feel that this new dev process is way better than the way we used to work.  Everything just feels better organised and more transparent.  What do you guys think?