2.2 The game jam design process

2.2.5 Working together in a game jam
Another way in which game jams differ from other design processes, is the way the setting prompts people to work in. Typically in a game jam you do not know the people whom you will be working with, you do not know their skills, their preferences, their motivations etc. But in 48 hours you and your team will have collaborated on generating multiple game ideas, distributing tasks, building prototypes, playtesting, and presenting the final game for your peers. This is a very particular way of working and reflects what Harvard Business School Novartis Professor Amy Edmondson has defined as “teaming”. She works with the notion of teaming in an organizational context, but this way of working can be observed in game jams as well. By knowing this you will be prepared for what you can expect from a design process in a game jam. It is as much about learning what kind of ideas your group can come up with, figuring out how to come up with an idea that the group wants to make, and what the group are able to create in 48 hours, as it is about making a playable game.
What is Teaming? Amy Edmondson - Harvard University (YouTube)

Great quotes from the video:

“Teamwork on the fly”

“It’s coordination and communication with people often across disciplinary boundaries or functional boundaries to get interdependent work done”

“The big difference between teaming and teams is that teams by definition are stable bounded entities, where people get to know each other they get to know each others’ unique strengths and weaknesses and skills, and they find ways of working together over time that work”

Reflection Question

    1. With what you know about game jams so far, can you recognize teaming in a game jam setting?

    2. How would you prepare for teaming with people you don’t know?