Prepare to be interrupted.
Preamble: This was originally written in January of 2021 with the intended audience being a small Narrative team. I never sent this.
Reflection
There's all this time of reflection near the holidays. Last December [2019] I was sitting in London listening to some of the music being recorded for the game. There wasn't a lot of scoring being done against specific scenes. The music composition didn't exist yet or wasn't ready for recording. We recorded the Pelican Flyover from [Outpost Tremonius] to [The Tower] and we recorded music for when the Pilot kisses the ground at [Outpost Tremonius].
I don't have gifts for my family each year. I don't know what to get them. When you're older a thing isn't as important as time, being present, and being reflective. That's all I really can do here is take stock of a confusing series of months. Each month tells a story of our preparation and pains as we ran to a finish line with the earnest goal of comprehension and quality.
We're all going to leave this experience a little different than when we started.
I think about what I've learned in this process and my mind wants to gloss over a lot of things to cope with the struggle of creation. Nothing about the last year was linear. Nearly every moment was a trial in the preparedness for interruption. How do you act when your focus is split? What choices do you make when none of them seem particularly optimal? How do you treat other people of different disciplines and experiences? I've failed and succeeded in various degrees of those questions.
Taught BY DOING
Sometimes I think, "What would I talk about if I went back to grad school?" I think I would write out a bunch of sentences that I couldn't have been taught without experience.
Don't give up before something is done. This one is fairly obvious on its face. More than half of the people I've ever spoken to give up at the wrong time. I've given up at the wrong time. I live with a bunch of regret because the thing "shipped" and I knew if I gave it even the most cursory bit of attention it would have been better.
Know what you're actually good at--not what you want to be good at. The actual role you play in a story is most beneficial to the supporting cast if you lean into your undeniable talents. When you know your weaknesses people can build in a support system to carry the weight. Know your own weaknesses and see them as information instead of judgement.
Business is a relationship and the time investment makes it personal. Five years ago I would have laughed at myself for that sentence but I have a different connection to it now. The best results I've ever achieved have been when I give people my undivided attention and discover what makes them passionate--then unleash that passion into a given thing. This is probably the hardest thing to understand or cultivate because the time spent never seems equal to the immediate output but it pays off in dividends later. The only way this works is if you understand that not everyone communicates, hears, understands, or shares your ideas. This is where rigor, clarity, and the courage to say: "I don't understand" or "I need help" need to be applied.
Everything is about approach. Everything is about belief and confidence to sit with an idea repeatedly. If you don't like something immediately--change it, ask yourself why you don't like it, ask yourself what is causing a distraction. If you go into something not understanding the intent or goals, it’s very hard to repeatedly tell yourself to care about that thing when you inevitably need to face it.
Be transparent. There's a tipping point where too much information is a burden but there's a spot where communication builds confidence. There's so many times where I would have fought for something if I knew about it earlier but because I didn't know or wasn't preceptive I missed some bit of connective tissue or lost an opportunity to express my sincere gratitude.
Everyone is on their own timelines. Make sure everyone understands and speaks the same language.
Without self reflection you lose perspective. Look at your life holistically.