Editing Gregory Fulton/Diaries (section)

== 12/07/98 ==
Today we stopped all map production. From here until we ship, I join the mapmakers and testers in playing maps and writing bugs... or so I thought.

Today, I had dropped into my lap the assignment of converting the 144-plus pages of the game manual into a help file. Anyone who has written a help file knows how huge this task can be. I could probably finish it in a day, but it requires no one bothering me for an extended period of time. Ha!

At this late stage of the production cycle, my entire day is spent meeting with people, making sure people are doing their work, and confirming that what is being done is correct. I don't have time for work. I've made the ugly evolution from game designer to middle manager.

It wasn't like this at the beginning of the project. At the beginning of the project the game designer is the screaming prophet, lost and alone in the desert (or the design process if you prefer).

In the middle of the production process the prophet is being screamed at by all his fellow coworkers who are wondering what to do because the design doc is behind schedule.

At the end of the project, everyone's a screaming prophet, and everyone is screaming at everyone else.

Sometime in the middle of all this screaming I've got to write this help file. Maybe I could give the assignment to [[Christian Vanover]] (H3 assistant director). Isn't it the job of a middle manager to delegate?