What is Workflow?
Work•flow /ˈwərkflō/
“The sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion.” – lexico.com
What is a quality workflow? How do we develop it? Below are elements of the production cycle that most creative people move through as they create something. First, we must identify the stages of project production. What is each stage and what are the quality checks for each stage. Read on and find out!
Stages of Creation Development
Inspiration
How do we find ideas to develop?
- Some tools that a person could use for inspiration could be other people’s work (just be sure not to plagiarize), Brainstorming ideas can also be a great way to spark creativity.
- Not all processes work for everyone, so people just need to find what will work for them, but time management is a major one.
- Quality can’t really be measured, it is very subjective. The only way you could measure the quality of inspiration could be just how well something gets from idea to fruition.
- I think that the only person who can measure quality is yourself. Only you can truly judge how good your ideas are.
Intention
How do we clarify our specific goal(s) for a project?
- Planners, calendars, and folders could all be used as tools to help you with your intentions. Basically anything that can keep you focused will help.
- You should use whatever processes work you, whether that is keeping a planner so you can write things down or setting a reminder on your phone since you’ll always have it with you. It is just finding whatever is right for you.
- You can measure quality of intention by how organized and thought out a person is. How well are they able to stay on task.
- In a school setting, teachers measure quality of intention, as well as students. If a student is overwhelmed, their intentions probably aren’t very clear.
Pre-production
How can we brainwrite, brainstorm, storyboard, and plan our ideas at this phase?
- The tools that can be used for this stage are similar to the last, as well as you can use a partner for help
- You can decide with your partner or team what processes will work for everyone
- The quality in pre-production can be measured in how well you are working with your group, and how long it is taking to plan things out
- You and your team should decide how much quality there is. It is up to you all on how well you are working together.
Production
How do we communicate with each other and execute our plan for this phase? This is where we actually make the project.
- You can use any tool that will allow you to effectively make your game turn out how you want it to.
- Any process that is going to help you and the production team form a quality game
- Quality can be measured in how playable your game seems each day, and if you are progressing towards that “perfect” game.
- You, your team, and potentially any people you have come and test your game randomly to check for any bugs or errors that could be fixed.
Post-production
How do we communicate with each other and execute our final stages of the project for this phase? This is where we publish the project.
- You can use people to come in and test the game to make sure that it is nice and polished and ready to be revealed.
- Whatever process you find that allows you to ensure that your game is as good as it could possibly be.
- How likely is the game to be bought or enjoyed by someone else. Are there any bugs or errors in the code?
- Testers, and the team
Presentation/Performance
How do we share our project with our learning community, advisory members, and the world?
- Presentations can be good for a formal unveiling, but social media can also be a great way to get the word out about the game.
- Use the tools stated above to make the absolute best hype you can for the game, get people excited.
- How the people you are presenting to react, are they excited? Bored?
- The audience
Feedback
How do we conduct a feedback session at the end of the project development cycle?
- Use the whole team to answer questions.
- Be able to accept constructive criticism, no one is going to make an absolutely flawless game that no one has any complaints about, so know how to take the feedback.
- Quality can be measured by how well you take the feedback and make changes to your game
- I think that it is up to you to base how well you took the feedback, did you truly take it to heart and do your best to fix the complaints?