This week, we turned our focus to communities of practice, specifically those that not just relate and engage with game developers or user experience developers, but also belong to them. These are usually professional bodies that are formed from movements that have arisen because of certain ideologies and methodologies. The purpose of these communities can be numerous, though primarily for professional development, they are often also used for the evolution of technologies (both software and hardware) and professional frameworks, and for the betterment of certain aspects of society. A movement is “A group of people with a particular set of aims or ideas.” (Cambridge Dictionary | Movement, 2021)
“The image of freelancer-in-café-with-laptop is a cliché for a reason. Most of us do better when we hang with others at least some of the time. After all, out ancient ancestors shared brains and brawn to outwit predators, thrive in tough environments, and live to procreate another day. Community and productivity go hand in hand in humans.” (Horowitz and Poynter, 2012)
As a member of a creatively associated organisation, it is not only crucial for personal development but to motivate novel ideas, or practices to be utilised, in my case, within game development. When I was working and studying film production during my foundation degree at Nottingham Trent University, I attended several meets ups in Nottingham, in which I was able to converse with likeminded individuals, witness pitches from companies and/ or potential employers, and be presented the opportunity to collaborate or obtain work within film production regularly. This resulted in most of my floor runner work experience. The downside to this, mainly because I was a newbie to film, was that most of the work was unpaid, although it is no secret that the film industry can be exploitative to students or even those looking to break into the industry. After obtaining plenty of unpaid experience, I still found that a lot of production companies were not keen on the idea on paying runners. When I moved to Brighton in 2018, it seemed to me, at face value, that there were far less communities in East Sussex than that of the East Midlands. Arguably, this led to a probable loss of obtaining work experience opportunities, although, this could also be because I refused to work for free with the experience I possessed. I strongly believe that being a part of communities within Brighton at this time would have improved my chances of working for potential employers and with potential collaborators if I had the chance to garner a reputation through in-person exchanges.
Building new relationships is essential in gaining new experiences and advancing personal professional development, our studies and our skills are often incredibly focussed, which makes it hard for friends or family who have little to no knowledge of these types of industries to help as they might not understand. Being deprived of peers and colleagues to talk about our work with, the challenges we are faced with may grow to be infuriating. This can lead to a sense of isolation, perhaps depression, when there is a lack of communities that cater to your aspirations, which then ultimately leads to lack of motivation. I can relate to this, when writing my screenplays in Nottingham, I was surrounded by all these individuals who were on the same wavelength as me outside of university, I found that I suffered with writer’s block in Brighton partly because of not having these individuals to bounce off creatively. I have every intention of joining as many professional bodies that relate to my professional practice as possible to not just enrich my experience, but to constantly push me to persevere in developing my game development skills and knowledge, whilst contributing to these communities equally.
What communities are used for:
· Finding solutions to problems
· Searching for general information
· Sharing resources
· Co-ordinating projects
· Socialising and networking
· Sharing/ documenting ideas
· Engaging in general discussions
Types of communities:
· Skype
· Social networks
· Custom platforms
· Open-source projects
· Meet ups.
· Conferences
Types of Knowledge
The types of knowledge to be gained are explicit knowledge and tacit knowledge. Explicit knowledge is documents containing concrete facts that communicate concepts and techniques and is the most popular method of acquiring newfound wisdom. Tacit knowledge is conveyed via more social means. This can be casual conversations or spontaneous remarks about a tutorial or book that could be of relevance to another community member for example. Tacit knowledge is often missed out by lone developers, which is not ideal as it is an essential factor of learning. This especially applies to all of us who are studying remotely at Falmouth University, without regular communication and becoming part of these creative communities (in our case, this consists of numerous Discord servers), then we would each be missing out on vital pieces of guidance to aid in our individual professional practices. Even if someone is more involved in another aspect of game design, they may have noticed something of relevance to the community, whether this is a source of information or even a job that they think others might be interested in. In the first rapid ideation session (weeks 4-5), you might recall, I devised a sizzle reel for an intro cutscene containing the backstory of a game I intend to continue developing, and because my peers had seen that I possessed the skills to edit videos and because this was edited in the style of a trailer, I was sent a link by someone in one of these Discord servers to apply for a trailer editor role in Brighton. Unfortunately, the post was not taken down after being filled so there was not actually a position available, but I contacted the company anyway and expressed my interest and it turned out that the talent acquisition team member I was in contact with was a fellow student from Brighton Film School. It just goes to show the importance of community engagement. Even though I would still be pursuing a career in game development, this role would certainly be a better alternative to my day job of working in the railway full-time and would look great on my existing CV.
Agile Movement
Agile Alliance
We were presented with a multitude of communities that specialise in certain aspects of creative technologies. As I have been applying for several junior positions regularly recently, I noticed that an ‘understanding of Agile principles’ (or words to that affect) appeared time and time again within job descriptions as necessities or desirables. Fortunately, The Agile Movement was explored considerably at the surface level and it was regarded that being a part of the Agile Alliance, which is the non-profit organisation and epicentre of this community, looks great to potential employers. This community is centred around advancing Agile development principles and practice, career progression, and broadening professional practice, which is ideal for me. With having a big move coming up in July, I will not be able to shell out $49 to become a full-fledged member just yet, however, there is the possibility to join as a subscriber which grants limited access to the site and provides regular email updates on Agile news, events, and activities.
I navigated to the communities’ tab of which it was divided into five categories: community groups, community events, community services, member initiatives, and volunteer sign up. The two I focused on were community groups and community events.
Agile Alliance - Community Groups
In this tab, there is a significant listing of groups to help the user connect with other individuals who are also interested in Agile software development. Agile Alliance also encourages those with new groups to submit their Community Group Information. Support is readily available for those looking to form new groups and advises to head over to the community group support initiative and sign up for the Agile Local Leaders slack channel for opportunities and information for these group leaders. For local user groups looking to draft in external speakers to speak at their conferences and events, they can gain approval for reimbursements for expenses that are sustained via the Speaker Reimbursement Initiative, this is done by sending the reimbursement request form to the speakers committee. (Community Groups | Agile Alliance, 2021)
The nearest Agile User Group to me is Agile London according to Agile Alliance, although it appears they no longer have their own website, instead they operate within meetup.com:
“Agile London is an established community, bringing together Agile enthusiasts in London to meet and share ideas, experiences, real-life problems, best working practices etc. We aim to provide the whole Agile community, whatever their level, with a regular meeting place to share knowledge from their own past experiences. The group is made up of thousands of Agile professionals across various disciplines including Developers, Testers, Architects, Project Managers, Scrum Masters, CTOs and many more.” (Agile London (London, United Kingdom), 2021)
I have requested to join this group although I am still waiting on whether I will be accepted.
Agile Alliance - Community Events
Community Events consists of Agile Alliance Sponsored Events, Not-for-Proft Events, For-Profit Events, and Agile Community Group Meetups. (Community Events | Agile Alliance, 2021)
The event that caught my eye was of the sponsored variety: Lean Agile Global (#LAG21). This “is an affordable not-for-profit conference which focuses on supporting our community in a friendly, safe, diverse and inclusive environment.” (Lean Agile Global 2021 | Agile Alliance, 2021) It is always worth taking note of community rules and etiquette of each community, as what is deemed acceptable in one, may not be acceptable in another. Obeying the rules and sticking to the values will make integrating into a community and finding a sense of belonging that much easier. Often, moderators are elected and give basic policies that are to be adhered to when members engage with their community and penalties are issued for those who break the rules. In more severe cases, a member may be outright banned from a group or community. “Our conference is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, age, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, ethnicity, religion (or lack thereof), or technology choices. We do not tolerate harassment of conference participants in any form. Sexual language and imagery is not appropriate in any conference forum, including talks, workshops, parties, twitter and other online media. Conference participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from the conference without a refund at the discretion of the organisers.” (Code of Conduct, Lean Agile Global, 2021)
“As a community-focused event, our purpose is to create a conference with soul where people can fully engage and share experiences with others.” (Lean Agile Global 2021 | Agile Alliance, 2021) As I am new to Agile as a whole and looking to develop my understanding and workings with this framework, it is a great starting point for becoming more involved with the Agile community. “As an attendee of LAG21 you will not only be able to hear from some of the important voices in the industry, but build and gather some of the latest thinking and knowledge through interactive workshops and speaker sessions. We are designing the conference to allow spontaneous interactions, engagement and connections, giving you the chance to speak with like-minded individuals to investigate and discover together.” (Lean Agile Global 2021 | Agile Alliance, 2021) Even though there is the chance to be outspoken and interact with other attendees openly, I will mainly observe this time around as first impressions are everything. I do not possess the experience that would grant me the ability to lecture how others could potentially practice Agile methodologies; especially as there would be a substantial number of Agile professionals attending this event. As I am a newbie to the Agile community, I will behave as such, which I believe will earn me greater respect than the latter of being outspoken and feigning to know all, but knowing only a fraction of what it is to be an Agile practitioner in actuality.
Types of Networkers
“Often when people think of networking, they think, what can I get? That leads either to the obnoxious networking” “or to anxiety-ridden encounters where you feel you failed if you came away with ‘nothing.’ Change your mindset to ‘What can I give?’ and it gets much easier because there’s nothing to worry about or fail at.” (Horowitz and Poynter 2012)
In retrospect, networking for me was more rewarding when I was consistently offering opportunities, experiences, and in some cases, wisdom to those who were interested within my field. Once I arrived in Brighton and began focusing purely on myself, this seemed to be when fulfilment from networking slowed to a halt. It is very much a case of not just taking but giving as often as possible. “When reciprocity is working as it should, others will give back in their way. If you feel all the love’s coming from you, move on and show it to someone who appreciates what you bring to the party.” (Horowitz and Poynter 2021) This can be especially disheartening at times, particularly in the film industry when you are trying to gain experience and connections but are being taken for granted. I once worked on a feature film for several weeks as a floor runner and did everything to the absolute best of my ability and always went beyond what was asked of me and spread as much positivity as I could to keep morale between crew members. I was promised work later in a paid position, but it was all in vain unfortunately. This was one of the last times I worked for free before I said enough was enough. Although, instead of cutting off potential opportunities like I did because of the worry of it leading nowhere and having to sacrifice paid work, I could have been more open to some opportunities that came my way in the hope of discovering individuals who might have respected me that much more. On the other hand, I am not a fan of exploitation within the film industry, and I do not want to support a companies’ inability to pay crew. I think that it can be acceptable to not pay crew when it is not-for-profit, but otherwise forget it. It makes sense for those who are in dire need of gaining experience in working on projects in film, games, etc. to work for free in a collaborative environment, but I would not be able to earn money from a project knowing that some people who are working on the same project in certain positions are being given expenses only or nothing at all.
There are three main types of networkers:
1. Players
The more extroverted, confident networkers who effectively converse with others without a second thought are the players.
2. Moderates
Moderates are those who are not entirely opposed to networking, although they are far more subtle than the players.
3. Purists
Purists are those who essentially find networking irrelevant and are more interested in developing their professional expertise. (Stillman, 2021)
Which Type of Networker Am I?
Over the last five years, I have been all of them. I started off extremely confident in my networking but over time I honestly became quite arrogant. Once I realised how insufferable I became, I dialled it down, and I started networking moderately and changed my attitude, this is when I started to see the rewards of networking but also when I was to be taken advantage of, which then led to how I was during my time at Brighton Film School and the subsequent year: essentially a purist. I was more focused on developing my skills of writing and assisting directing than I was networking. I was not actively seeking out communities to engage with and though this was not necessarily my downfall, I did not see the level of reward I did when I was more outgoing in Nottingham. Whenever I did try and network during my time at Brighton Film School, it was more on a casual basis, whenever something came up in conversation, then I would interact, but I would not actively seek out additional external connections for example. A factor to this could be that Nottingham Trent University allowed us to outsource for crew whereas Brighton Film School did not. Having adopted three different approaches to networking, I have found that there is a balance to be held. I have been at the point in which my confidence became arrogance, and I became insufferable, and I have been at the point in which passivity of networking has led to near irrelevance. As it stands, I am more than active in terms of communicating with my peers at university (online of course), but I need to engage more with external bodies and once Covid-19 restrictions ease, I need to be that much more outgoing to network more comfortably as a moderate.
Bibliography
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Agile Alliance |. 2021. Lean Agile Global 2021 | Agile Alliance. [online] Available at: <https://www.agilealliance.org/third-party-event/lean-agile-global-2021/> [Accessed 17 May 2021].
Dictionary.cambridge.org. 2021. Cambridge Dictionary | Movement. [online] Available at: <https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/movement> [Accessed 17 May 2021].
Horowitz, S. and Poynter, T., 2012. The Freelancer's Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Have the Career of Your Dreams - On Your Own Terms. New York: Workman Publishing, p.108-109.
Horowitz, S. and Poynter, T., 2012. The Freelancer's Bible: Everything You Need to Know to Have the Career of Your Dreams - On Your Own Terms. New York: Workman Publishing, p.300.
Lean Agile Global. 2021. Code of Conduct, Lean Agile Global. [online] Available at: <https://leanagile.global/code-of-conduct/> [Accessed 17 May 2021].
Meetup. 2021. Agile London (London, United Kingdom). [online] Available at: <https://www.meetup.com/Agile-London/> [Accessed 15 May 2021].
Stillman, J., 2021. The 3 Types of Networkers (and How Each Can Get Ahead). [online] Inc.com. Available at: <https://www.inc.com/jessica-stillman/the-3-types-of-networkers-and-how-each-can-get-ahead.html> [Accessed 18 May 2021].