Wargaming副项目经理Enya Tack谈如何协调跨国项目团队工作

原作者：Craig Chapple 译者：Vivian Xue

游戏产业链遍布全球，这也意味着某些公司的工作室可能位于世界各地。

Wargaming的手游《战舰世界闪击战》（World of Warships Blitz）就是由该公司的柏林工作室和上海工作室合作研发的。两个团队的时差是6-7小时，取决于时令。

柏林团队负责游戏的发行工作，而上海团队致力于游戏研发。

在2019年柏林“Quo Vadis”游戏开发者大会上， Wargaming手游部副项目经理Enya Tack谈论了自己协调两个工作室工作的经验心得。

一、设定明确的工作时间

Tack说，协调两个距离遥远的工作室工作，最大的挑战是时差。

解决这个问题的关键在于设定明确的工作时间。例如，柏林团队晚上12点后绝不会给上海工作室发信息，反之亦然。

Tack承认，这样做的一个弊端是工作室成员早晨醒来可能会收到成堆的邮件，但总好过半夜起来接收信息。

使双方成员了解对方的假期也很重要，因为人们不太可能清楚对方国家的法定节假日。因此，即便是一个小假期，也必须通知整个团队。

二、树立明确的项目目标

清楚了解项目目标显然很重要，Tack强调与另一个工作室合作时，这一点非常关键。没有一个目标，就没有方向。

因此，你必须：

1. 确保每位成员清楚了解总目标
2. 保持总目标的简明性
3. 设立每个季度的目标/每个阶段的冲刺目标

wargaming(from develop-online)

三、不要简单地把所有责任交给一个人

Tack强烈建议不要把所有沟通的责任都交给一个人。虽然一个游戏需要一名项目经理，但这些事不应该只由一人负责。

这可能会导致开发遭遇瓶颈，如果该负责人感到疲惫离开了团队，会引发严重问题。

她总结道：

1. 不要制造不必要的瓶颈
2. 让两个团队的领导互相认识
3. 任命一位重要联系人
4. 建立一个邮件组，使每个成员参与到沟通过程中

四、电话沟通比文字沟通更有效

相比于电话或面对面会议，远程合作的人们往往更倾向于文字交流，不过Tack建议，与他人交谈比打字更有效。

这是因为：

1. 形成书面信息固然是件好事，但是文字聊天很难胜过打电话
2. 记录每次电话的内容，随后整理成邮件共享
3. 如果你的团队有人不喜欢打电话，加入他们，帮助他们克服这个问题
4. 如果你有机会实地拜访对方，那就更好了

五、定期交流进度

Tack说，定期交流是至关重要的，不仅要安排交流时间，还要真正进行它们。

她解释道，即便你们没有什么新的进展，也不要取消交流。很多时候，过程中总会产生一些收获。

Tack建议每周或每两周进行一次效果最好。

六、记住你们是一个团队——而不是两个竞争者

Tack说，两个团队之间不应该存在竞争，他们的最终目标是一致的——游戏获得成功，玩家感到快乐。

因此，两个工作室应尽可能保持公开坦诚。

本文由游戏邦编译，转载请注明来源，或咨询微信zhengjintiao

Games is a global industry and for some companies that means offices around the world.

In Wargaming and World of Warships Blitz’s case, there are two teams working on the mobile game, with one situated in Berlin and another in Shanghai. That’s a six to seven-hour difference, depending on the time of year.

Wargaming’s Berlin team works on publishing, while the external team in Shanghai focuses on development.

Speaking at Quo Vadis 2019 in Berlin, Wargaming Mobile associate project manager Enya Tack discussed how to make such a collaboration work.

Time Parameters

Tack said the most obvious challenge when working with two offices so far apart is the time difference.

To make this work, she said the most important thing to do is set clear time parameters for contact. For example, the Berlin team does not message the Shanghai studio after 12pm, and similarly vice versa.

Tack admitted that the downside of this is staff are likely to wake up to a lot of emails, but it beats waking up in the middle of the night to a new message.

Communication about public holidays is also important, as people in one country are unlikely to know about such things in another. Therefore, even if it’s a small holiday, this must be communicated across teams.

Clear game vision

Having a clear vision for your game is obviously important, and Tack stressed just how critical this is when working with another studio. If you don’t have a vision, you won’t have any direction, she said.

It’s crucial then to:

Make sure everyone knows the vision
Keep it clean and short
Add sub-goals per quarter/sprint
Don’t fall for the ‘one contact person to rule them all’ trap

Tack highly recommended not having just one person to manage communication. While a game will need a project manager, this shouldn’t be put all on one person.

This could create development bottlenecks, could burn staff out and if they leave it could cause major problems.

She summed up:

Don’t create unnecessary bottlenecks
Introduce team leads to each other
Have one contact for important messaging
Create a mailing group so everyone can be involved
Calls are usually better than text

Working remotely, it’s easy for a lot of communication to be conducted through text speak rather than calls or face-to-face meetings. Tack advised however it’s better to speak with others rather than just type.

This is because:

Having info in writing is great, but a chat will rarely beat a real call
Make sure calls have meeting notes, that are shared via mail later
If you have someone in your team who does not like to call, simply join them and guide them through it
If you have the option to visit, even better

Regular sync-ups

Tack said it’s important to have regular sync-ups, and not only just schedule them but actually follow through and do them.

She explained that even if you feel you don’t have anything new to say, never cancel. More often than not, something will come up.

Tack suggested doing this on a weekly or bi-weekly basis works best.

Remember you are one team – it’s not us versus them.

Tack said both teams should not be competitive with each other, as they ultimately share the same goal. Both teams will have the same passion, want players to be happy and want success.

Therefore it’s ideal to be as open as possible between offices.（source：Pocketgamer.biz）