Thursday 24 August 2017

Project Management - can we get something going?

I think that the extent to which Facebook has replaced blogs in the wargaming community can be seen through the lack of draws, memes and other community events, and it is a bit of a shame. I don't know if we are going to ever recapture that period a couple of years ago when it seemed every man and his blog (see what I did there) was having a giveaway or nominating someone else for an award of some sort. The six by six challenge is fun, and it has brought my attention to a number of new blogs. I'm hoping that I might be able to spark the blogosphere into life again by getting people that read this (am I being too presumptuous to use the plural there?) to post a project management list. This originally came from Prufrock over at 'Here's No Great Matter', and I thought it would be interesting to look at what people's ideal 'realistic' project list would look like. He explains the list thus:
'Looking at all of my unpainted or half-painted stuff, I've been trying to think what I would be satisfied with. By satisfied, I mean feeling that I would never need to paint another thing again, except perhaps to replace something that broke, or to get an extra unit of something here or there for a particular occasion.'

Picture blatantly taken from here
So what will this involve? Well, quite simple really. You make a Project Management blogpost which includes a list of projects you have / are working on / one day realistically intend to be working on. In the post you link back to the blog of the person that you got this idea from, like I have with Prufrock, and these instructions. That way we might get a chain effect of people discovering new blogs that they hadn't been following before. Or maybe just a bit of community bonding like the 'good old days'.

So, to keep the ball rolling, here is my project list:

Ancients:
15mm  Peloponnesian War: Spartans and Athenians
15mm Fall of the Roman Republic: Marian Romans (x2), Spanish, Gallic, Parthian

Renaissance:
15mm Great Italian Wars: Spanish and French
15mm Samurai
28mm English Civil War
10mm Dutch Wars of Louis XIV

Horse and Musket:
15mm Marlburian: English, Hanoverians, Hessians and French for Blenheim era
28mm Marlburian (skirmish): Confederate and Bourbon for Spain
15mm Seven Years War: Prussians, Austrians and Russians
28mm French and Indian War (skirmish)
15mm French Revolutionary Wars (currently not yet purchased and a toss up between Napoleon in Italy and Napoleon in Egypt)
15mm Great Paraguayan War
15mm Franco-Prussian War

Moderns:
15mm 1914 WWI
15mm 1985 WWIII

Sci-Fi/Fantasy
28mm Weird War Rome skirmish
28mm Superheroes
28mm Star Wars

1/2400 Naval - WWI

This is a long list, but as many of the armies will be DBA or skirmish, the whole lot can realistically be completed in the next few years. Well, assuming I get back behind a brush sometime soon. It's been over a week since I was getting some consistent painting done! Interestingly, none of the above are currently 'finished', although there are a number that I have enough painted figures to play games with. I think if you have finished a project, you should probably indicate that.

Nice-to-haves that don't make it to the list would be Napoleonics, Vikings and 1918 WWI.

So will you take up the Project Management blog challenge?

Nate

22 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. It almost has everything... but never say never!

      Delete
  2. Okay I'll get on that later or tomorrow. Good call!

    As for the Blogger vs Facebook issue, I think that what we have seen is just a drift of people who blogged when they should have been Facebooking finding the level that best suited them.

    Sure some people have dropped out of the hobby, but that happens and of course some people just want to paint and play; blogging cuts into that spare time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're probably right about the convenience aspect of things. It is much quicker to upload a comment and photo to FB than to write a blogpost, and I certainly find that I'm not posting as often as I would like to due to the pressures of life.
      I look forward to your list!

      Delete
  3. I still like the blogs. Face book has been known to censor sites. Facebook is not the end all. Too me a Blog is a labor of love. I do it because I enjoy the hobby and wargame. Plus I like your blog it is great.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree Gary. There are a lot more interesting ideas to be found in blogs than anywhere else. They are more like magazine articles than attention (like) seeking posts.
      Your blog is pretty great too!

      Delete
  4. An excellent idea - I will come up with a list over the weekend.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nathan, I may never make it beyond the "Requirements Gathering" Phase in the Project Plan. Scope Creep and Requirement Changes are a daily affair. Can reaching the state of "Satisfaction" even be qualified? There seems always at least one more Lead Mountain to scale just beyond the horizon.

    My plight may be hopeless.

    Returning to your original thesis that Facebook is ripping apart the denizens of the blogosphere. what leads you to that conclusion. The answer may be obvious but since I am not on FB, that facet remains unknown.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I figured from your comment on Prufrock's post that you would struggle to come up with an endpoint, Jonathan, and to be fair you already have so many projects completed or almost completed. But I guess you could make a list of which ones you want to make sure you 'complete', as in have gameable forces for. It might be a survey of all of history... I have no hard data, only my gut feeling. As Gary says, blogs can be a labour of love, but it is the 'labour' part that is difficult for some, and FB is much more pithy and quick. As to the idea that the blogosphere is not quite what it was, it isn't necessarily the quantity of posts as it is the community interactivity. Sure we look at each other's blogs and post comments, but there doesn't seem to have been as many competitions, awards (is the liebster award still going?), memes etc as there was a couple of years ago. I guess you could call it 'group bonding'.
      Kaptain Kobold's 6 x 6 challenge and Captain Arjun's frequent giveaways, the Analogue painting challenge and Forgotten Heroes are those that I am aware of which are still going or recently started, but it feels like there used to be more. Maybe I'm just following the wrong blogs?

      Delete
    2. This comment has been removed by the author.

      Delete
    3. Well, Nathan, I have a five year blog anniversary coming up in September. Time approaches for either a contest, give-away or both!

      Delete
    4. Sounds like a plan Jonathan!

      Delete
    5. Nathan, I took up your challenge.

      Delete
  6. Nathan, I will try to post something similar to my blog this week-end. Maybe it will help break my posting drought...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Greg, events like what you have been through can make toy soldiers seem rather pointless, and it can be a long road back, but we're all here and ready to join in your enjoyment of your hobby for whenever you feel like posting about your SCW or Infinity progress!

      Delete
  7. Wow...I don't think I can ever reach the end-state you describe...I'll be on new projects until my eyes go or arthritis takes out my fingers or something...

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hello Nathan

    I did do something like this for myself about 4-5 years ago at the start of a year but I found by the end of the year a revise list would only contain 1/2 of it and 1/2 hew! I so have a lot of painted miniatures already that I want to use more in games, rather than add to the collection. I will have to bow out of the project management challenge as my fickle mind is more on gaming than my collection, and then even with gaming it changes all the time. It is a good idea though for those with expanding collections.

    Even the 6x6 challenge will end up with only 2 of the games I originally started with - the other 4 are changed (or changing as I write).

    ReplyDelete
  9. Ok Nathan, I have taken up the challenge...http://stracmark.blogspot.co.nz

    ReplyDelete
  10. This is really tempting proposition although I fear I will not participate in this one - the Six by Six Challenge itself is the gaming project of the year and even there I am behind schedule (and I am a project manager in real life - hangs head in shame!). It is the sort of thing that helps me pull my metaphorical finger out and do something.

    I guess if it were to be more than just a list of things you want to do in the next 12 months (nothing wrong with that) then to make the PM Challenge a bit more, well, challenging, you might want to think of some categories of projects to be managed. It could be something like new game started; game taken to "next level"; new army built; old army completed; campaign launched; or something like that. And I suppose there ought to be rough timescales around the plan, of course subject to change at the whim of the gamer - it is supposed to be a hobby after all.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Interesting post, I don't do Facebook so blogs are my only outlet , it's an impressive list you've got there, I'll have a go at doing a list over the weekend.
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete



  12. It is really a great and useful piece of info. I’m glad that you shared this helpful info with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
    Project Management Degree

    ReplyDelete