What risks do you face in game project management?

1 Scope creep

Scope creep is the tendency of a project to expand beyond its original goals and requirements, often due to changing expectations, feedback, or features. Scope creep can cause delays, cost overruns, and loss of focus. To prevent scope creep, you need to define your project scope clearly and document it in a scope statement. You also need to communicate your scope to your team, clients, and stakeholders, and manage their expectations. Finally, you need to control your scope by following a change management process that evaluates, approves, and tracks any changes to your scope.

2 Technical debt

Technical debt is the accumulation of suboptimal or temporary solutions that compromise the quality, performance, or maintainability of your code. Technical debt can result from tight deadlines, lack of documentation, poor testing, or changing requirements. Technical debt can lead to bugs, errors, inefficiencies, and difficulties in adding new features or fixing old ones. To reduce technical debt, you need to follow coding standards, use version control, refactor your code regularly, and conduct code reviews. You also need to allocate time and resources for testing, debugging, and optimization.

5 Market uncertainty

Market uncertainty is the unpredictability or volatility of the external factors that affect the demand, reception, or profitability of your game. Market uncertainty can include changing consumer preferences, trends, or behaviors, emerging competitors or technologies, or legal or ethical issues. Market uncertainty can jeopardize your project viability, success, or sustainability. To cope with market uncertainty, you need to conduct market research and analysis, identify and monitor your target audience and competitors, and adapt your game design and marketing strategies accordingly. You also need to test your game early and often, and gather and analyze user feedback and data.

6 Project failure

Project failure is the inability or unwillingness to complete your project or achieve your project objectives. Project failure can result from any of the above risks, or from other factors such as poor planning, execution, or management. Project failure can have serious consequences for your reputation, finances, or career. To prevent project failure, you need to define your project objectives and success criteria, and measure and evaluate your project performance and outcomes. You also need to learn from your mistakes, celebrate your achievements, and improve your project management skills and processes.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?