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Peter Jarrett from Gridwerx Interview

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There's a great interview with Peter Jarrett of Gridwerx up at BligLuke.net. Gridwerx is an independant games developer from Queensland who are on a mission to complete their first person action sci-fi RPG thriller called Gridwerx Genesis. The interview touches on how and when Gridwerx were formed, their main focus, working as an independant game developer, and plenty of stuff on their game. Check it out!

" We represent the underdog, the rebel. We embrace the future, to connect the real and the virtual - and exploring the challenges that humanity face in coming to terms with our evolving world. We've got a fantastic bunch of guys (check them out on our web site www.gridwerx.com.au) who are all working part time after hours when they aren't studying, or working on their day jobs to make this dream a reality. We all met for the first time on 30 January after I had interviewed 80+ people. We hit it off, and have come a long way in the last few short months."
Submitted by anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 27/08/05 - 4:04 AM Permalink

  • 1. monkeyboy - Saturday, August 27, 2005 - 4:17:13 AM
    you might want to consider decent chairs and tables. the working conditins look terrible.
  • 2. Souri - Monday, August 29, 2005 - 12:55:18 AM
    I don't see anything wrong with what they have. You don't need leather swivel chairs and the latest Ikea designed desks to get anything productive happening.
  • 3. joe public - Wednesday, August 31, 2005 - 4:34:44 PM
    "We represent the underdog, the rebel. We embrace the future, to connect the real and the virtual - and exploring the challenges that humanity face in coming to terms with our evolving world"

    sure....another alpha geek game about killing and conspiracy in a dark dystopian world...how innovative and rebellious!!!
    Welcome to the mainstream gridwerx.

  • 4. Andy ACS Member - Monday, December 12, 2005 - 5:00:03 PM
    Peter, It's great to have you to share your life experience with us. And great to know there are someone out there knowing their dream and knowing how to achieve their goal and performe their role well without interference from other. Keep it up. Peter. Thanks for the great talk in the project management special interest group under ACS events. Thanks a lots.
  • 5. Lorien - Monday, December 12, 2005 - 9:38:20 PM
    To me ACS is The Australian Computer Society http://www.acs.org.au but I don't think that's what you mean is it?
  • 6. Mdobele - Monday, December 12, 2005 - 11:52:53 PM
    I'd love to talk to Peter and see how he manages a group of people, all unpaid on a title when you have to contend with staff members having to work other jobs to support themselves... staff members of varying skill levels generally below that of industry standard..... and staff members constantly leaving you when they gain full time employment. Whilst I still say the title they are trying to do is ambitious beyond their means the fact that they can show anything is a testament to their dedication.

    Hope you succeed guys, congrats on the win at AGDC.

  • 7. Peter Jarrett - Thursday, December 22, 2005 - 9:45:27 AM
    Hi all,

    Thanks Andy, and yes Lorien, it was a presentation for the Australian Computer Society in Queensland sharing an insight into traits of project managers - I've been a commercial project manager for a decade now (my cover is blown!). Thanks too for the congrats Mdobele, it has been a challenge to maintain a team throughout the year and put in the hard yards to get a prototype ready to present at AGDC. We hit lot of hurdles along the way, and there was a lot of frustration, but I think the few key things that got us there were:
    1. Having a clear goal and deadline that wasn't going to shift;
    2. The guys honestly liked each other and became great friends - as a result, they didn't want to let each other down;
    3. The fact that the concept was shared and owned by the teAM , not just one person's dream. That way, everyone felt that they owned and controlled their part of the project (which is one of the real benefits of doing this); and
    4. Lots of nagging. Lots. And understanding that there would be some team churn along the way.

    As for the "ambitious beyond their means", I agree, we set a big, hairy, aggressive goal. I don't think we fully pulled it off they way we initially visualised, but the fact we got as far as we did is a testament to the eagerness and dedication of the team. We could have picked a far simpler target to achieve, but it wouldn't have been as inspiring and we would not have learned as much without the ambitious challenge.

    Having said that, we will be doing some introspection and navel gazing over the Christmas and New Years period to refine our strategy from here on in.

    Hope this is of interest.

    PJ

  • 8. Andy ACS Member - Saturday, January 07, 2006 - 12:23:57 PM
    Dear PJ,
    After the project management special interest group presentation, I have contact ACS to reqest for the presentation power point on your present topic of "an insight into traits of project managers" - for my personal learning Reference material (won't be pass to others) and there is no response from them. Instead of go through ACS, I think it might be best to request the power point presentation from you directly. I am currently studying in CQU for Master degree in Information System and have no background in that area at all, and I take every chance I can to learn from people that have been in the industry for a long time. Plus, I am an overseas student from Taiwan and have been invest on the education studying in Brisbane nearly 10 years. It will be a great pleasure to have the power point for your presentation as my personal learning reference material to increase my knowledge of project manager.
    My e-mail address is cquandy@gmail.com

    Thanks for your time reading this message. Your earliest reply will be appreciated.

    Regards,

    Andy

  • 9. Glenn - Saturday, January 07, 2006 - 4:11:57 PM
    Souri, seems like the link doesn't work
  • 10. Peter Jarrett - Monday, January 16, 2006 - 9:04:07 PM
    Hi Andy,

    Thanks for your feedback - the Powerpoint Presentation is on it's way to you now via email.

    All the best.

  • 11. Souri - Monday, January 16, 2006 - 9:23:28 PM
    Yeh, the site looks like it's down at the moment. Hopefully they will get things sorted out asap..