Good job, WotC. You're off notice until next quarter. 
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Where's the Errata?
- Thread starter Deset Gled
- Start date
SteveC
Doing the best imitation of myself
I just wanted to comment briefly on the whole project management issue, because, well, I started the comment.
I'll agree that project management and software development is a complex issue, with both benefits and drawbacks. In my current job I have seen what good project management can do to help a project (which can be amazing) but I have also seen several projects languish and eventually sink because of poor work.
I'll argue that it's different with something creative. Outside of my job, I am a bit of a writer and an amateur game designer. Project Management of creative people is essential when you have a deadline, because without it, you'll never get your product.
When I write, I am never satisfied, and have absolutely ridiculous standards for myself. I have written and re-written sections of my latest game innumerable times. I have worked as an editor on several productions as well, and until someone cracked the whip, I've found this state of constant revision to be almost a universal problem.
Without tight management we will never see 4E. There are always things to be tweaked and improved with the game, as playing any game leads to finding issues with even the best written rules. It literally never ends because a good writer is their own worst critic, and also has a blindspot a mile wide to actual problems with their writing (that's where editors and play testers come in).
So that's what I meant.
To bring it home: compiling errata for the PHBII isn't something that's particularly tough to do. At some point, it just has to be a process that ends, and along the way you have to ask yourself "does anyone care about what we're errating?"
You can say the same thing for the Spell and Magic Item Compendiums. There are a lot of small rules issues that are in the books, and moreover there are some major improvements that could be made to both products if they were exposed to a significant round of re-editing and play testing. We're not getting any of that because of 4E.
A good manager knows this and gets the best effort out of the people they have on the project. In looking at the errata itself, I'd give this round a "B:" they got to a number of questions that I had, but why do we have all the revisions to the starting packages for example?
I don't know if that actually clarified anything, but hey, my post had neither project management of editing associated with it.
--Steve
I'll agree that project management and software development is a complex issue, with both benefits and drawbacks. In my current job I have seen what good project management can do to help a project (which can be amazing) but I have also seen several projects languish and eventually sink because of poor work.
I'll argue that it's different with something creative. Outside of my job, I am a bit of a writer and an amateur game designer. Project Management of creative people is essential when you have a deadline, because without it, you'll never get your product.
When I write, I am never satisfied, and have absolutely ridiculous standards for myself. I have written and re-written sections of my latest game innumerable times. I have worked as an editor on several productions as well, and until someone cracked the whip, I've found this state of constant revision to be almost a universal problem.
Without tight management we will never see 4E. There are always things to be tweaked and improved with the game, as playing any game leads to finding issues with even the best written rules. It literally never ends because a good writer is their own worst critic, and also has a blindspot a mile wide to actual problems with their writing (that's where editors and play testers come in).
So that's what I meant.
To bring it home: compiling errata for the PHBII isn't something that's particularly tough to do. At some point, it just has to be a process that ends, and along the way you have to ask yourself "does anyone care about what we're errating?"
You can say the same thing for the Spell and Magic Item Compendiums. There are a lot of small rules issues that are in the books, and moreover there are some major improvements that could be made to both products if they were exposed to a significant round of re-editing and play testing. We're not getting any of that because of 4E.
A good manager knows this and gets the best effort out of the people they have on the project. In looking at the errata itself, I'd give this round a "B:" they got to a number of questions that I had, but why do we have all the revisions to the starting packages for example?
I don't know if that actually clarified anything, but hey, my post had neither project management of editing associated with it.
--Steve
