Status updates

[Victoria Jennings]

Is it reasonable to ask for status updates from those working for you? Mostly, I get pretty anxious when I've not set a deadline (seems a bit early for any), and I've no idea whether the person I'm soliciting is even giving any thought to my project. ; ^ ;

(also, I realize that I've been posting a LOT since I've joined, and I apologize if I've bothered anybody here. I'm not very self-aware or well-versed in social norms, it seems...)

[Destiny]

Not really...
I start informing my workers (in this case my voice actors) early about my wishes, so they can prepare.
Then I give them the text when the art is about half done.
So they have lots of time doing the voices and maybe redoing them multiple times.
I'm fast, but no magician, so they have plenty of time. And when the game gets delayed a bit, who cares, I never name any release date for anything so nobody will even notice :'D

But I think a date in the meaning of "next month" is ok and important.
That shows they can't totally slack off. It's also good to get to know when some of them have no time or private issues. They won't tell you without you pushing them a bit, which would make the planning harder.
But maybe it is also just a thing of group dynamic, my team works great together, so I'm never really bothered when all answer me after a day and one takes a week because of work ^^

[wakagana]

My biggest pet peeve is when I assign something to friends/people/associates that I crucially need by a certain date, and I give them plenty of time ahead of time to get the stuff done, and I talk to them a few days prior to when I need it and they're like "Don't have anything done "

I try to be cool and give them a month + ahead of time to prep, but It really is annoying when I ask for something and I get -nothing- in the end.

[Sharm]

Communicating with your artists isn't unreasonable, it's a must if you're requesting more than a single image. Anyone with a professional attitude should expect it. Now, what that communication involves will depend on the artist and how they like to work. Some people work better with only a few lines of text saying "Yeah, I'm doing something at the moment" and some, like me, work best sending visual updates and getting lots of feedback on direction and how much you like or don't like it. Sometimes the artist will know what they like, but you'll need to adjust things to suit them and get the work you want from them.

[J. Datie]

My biggest pet peeve is when I assign something to friends/people/associates that I crucially need by a certain date, and I give them plenty of time ahead of time to get the stuff done, and I talk to them a few days prior to when I need it and they're like "Don't have anything done "

I try to be cool and give them a month + ahead of time to prep, but It really is annoying when I ask for something and I get -nothing- in the end.

That's the problem with giving too much time. If the due date's too far off, people will assume they have plenty of time for things like "getting it done", "starting", or "reassessing how much time they have left."

[Tetiel]

I don't think regular updates are unreasonable at all. I mean don't bug them constantly but you should expect to hear from them maybe every other week with something I'd hope. I suppose it depends on your circumstances, but if you've paid, you have a right to know what's going on. In a partnership you should definitely have regular communication.

Just give a "Hey, what's up. Have you made any progress at all?" Usually there's no harm in it.

[macuyo]

Sure, it can serve as a friendly reminder that there's art that needs to be drawn. In a lot of cases, artists are big procrastinators and they sometimes forget about it (of course this is speaking as an artist myself haha). As long as you don't do this too frequently and ask about it too accusingly/rudely (ex. "where's the art?"), most artists should be fine with it. ^ ^

[Cidz]

I usually bug my sprite/main artist once a month to see how she's doing. She doesn't mind. I usually set up a month deadline (which seemed reasonable to her. i'd like to think im not a tyrant and like to work within reason with people. i know that people have lives, i do too...kinda....ok..not really....>_> )

I see nothing wrong with setting up reasonable deadlines or checking up and asking for a status report once in awhile. as long as you arent like "I DONT CARE IF YOU HAVE 3 JOBS AND HAVE TO CARE FOR YOUR 5 SIBLINGS I NEED 20 SPRITES BY TOMORROW RAWRZ."

[yu1988]

As for myself, almost every week or less. I have a timetable management and really hate to be late (Of course, in case some mishaps happened then... okay...). But i always try to get contact with the team whenever possible.

[Gear]

I try to check in once a week if I have someone working on something. I think it's far enough that it's not micromanaging, but short enough to ensure work is getting done.