Bringing on Community Members as Interns?

[Northstar1989]

@SQUAD

Have you guys considered the possibility of bringing on some of the members of the KSP community as unpaid interns to ease the workload a bit, and build a recruitment of pool of people you're familiar working with, in case you ever lose another key developer in the future? (in which case you WILL need to look at bringing on someone new...)

I'm sure a ton of KSP players would love to do anything possible to make the game develop a little quicker- and possibly earn a chance to work on the dev team someday if you guys ever expand. It's one of the advantages of having built such an enthusiastic player community. Plus, a lot of the modders already have at least a little familiarity with how KSP works under-the-hood...

Just an idea- but I think it might make the game better in the long run... Many hands make light work- as the proverb goes- and if you're getting some of that work for free (and possibly hiring one of the interns someday if you decide to expand), then you have more total development time to devote to maknig KSP all it can be...

Regards,

Northstar

[Whirligig Girl]

I like this idea.

[Javster]

Do they do that with moderators?

If so, they should expand it to the game, as you said. Didn't they hire some modders at some point?

If not, how do they pick moderators?

[Red Iron Crown]

Many hands make light work

This one doesn't really apply to software development. See the Mythical Man Month. Basically, software development isn't like digging ditches, sometimes adding manpower can actually slow development rather than speeding it up.

[Northstar1989]

This one doesn't really apply to software development. See the Mythical Man Month. Basically, software development isn't like digging ditches, sometimes adding manpower can actually slow development rather than speeding it up.

What you're basically repeating is "Brooks' Law"

"adding manpower to a late software project makes it later"

That is, even according to the Wikipedia article you linked (which enshrines Frederick Brooks, despite the fact he is only writing from essentially a single anecdotal experience), only within certain limits:

"their output decreases AND WHEN it becomes negative"

Notice the words "and when" (emphasis added). The number of developers has to exceed a certain total- and the concept of "Brooks' Law" was developed on an enormous project at IBM. It doesn't really apply to small game studios- which haven't yet nearly reached the point where additional developers would only be a hindrance to progress...

Additionally, the definition of Brooks' Law requires that the project is already past-due, rather than simply being in a long development timeline or having an over-optimistic schedule. I wouldn't say KSP is by any means past-schedule, the devs themselves have said that though it's taking a long time, KSP is developing at a pace within their expectations and in a direction they are encouraged by...

See also the "Exceptions and Possible Solutions" heading under the Wikipedia article on Brook's Law:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooks%27s_law#Exceptions_and_possible_solutions

Under that section:

"Projects can be brought back into (or kept in) control if people are added earlier in the process."

THAT is exactly what I am proposing- adding more staff to the project *before* it falls behind schedule, so it can be kept within control even after the loss of a key dev...

Regards,

Northstar

Edited June 12, 2014 by Northstar1989

[r4pt0r]

more staff= more ideas, and that might dilute Harvs vision for the game