Teams
WORK IN PROGRESS
Teams in Software Inc. allow for the streamlining of the software development process. You can create unlimited teams with unlimited employees.
The Big Questions
- What should my team size be?
Following the recommended number of designers, programmers, artists in the details tab of each team is highly suggested. By doing so, you will achieve maximum efficiency. For all of you Economy majors out there, this can be classified as the profit maximization point (Marginal Cost = Marginal Revenue).
- Why does my development speed slow down when I add 200 people to a project?
Software Inc. strives to be as realistic as possible and this rule certainly applies to software development. From a computer science perspective, having 200 people work on one code becomes increasingly difficult as each person needs to try to interpret someone else's code and perhaps documentation (assuming that the coders DO in fact document their work... wow!). For more information see diseconomies of scale.
- Why is my team efficiency so slow?
See effectiveness.
Default Recommended Team Sizes
Note: These recommendations are assigned by the game.
Software Type | 1980 | 1990 | 2000 | 2010 |
---|---|---|---|---|
Operating System [Computer] | 4 - 8 - 1 | 7 - 14 - 1 | 8 - 16 - 1 | 8 - 16 - 1 |
Operating System [Computer] | 3 - 6 - 1 | 6 - 11 - 1 | 7 - 13 - 1 | 7 - 13 - 1 |
Operating System [Phone] | N/A | N/A | 6 - 11 - 1 | 6 - 11 - 1 |
2D Editor | 2 - 3 - 1 | 3 - 5 - 2 | 4 - 6 - 2 | 4 - 6 - 2 |
3D Editor | N/A | 2 - 4 - 0 | 5 - 9 - 0 | 5 - 9 - 0 |
Audio Tool | 2 - 3 - 0 | 2 - 4 - 2 | 3 - 5 - 3 | 3 - 5 - 3 |
Game Engine | 2 - 3 - 1 | 3 - 5 - 2 | 4 - 7 - 2 | 4 - 7 - 2 |
Game [All but sports] | 2 - 3 - 2 | 2 - 4 - 2 | 4 - 8 - 7 | 5 - 8 - 7 |
Game [Sports] | 2 - 2 - 1 | 2 - 3 - 2 | 4 - 6 - 5 | 4 - 7 - 5 |
Office Software | 4 - 6 - 1 | 4 - 7 - 2 | 4 - 8 - 2 | 4 - 8 - 2 |
CMS [Web] | N/A | N/A | 2 - 4 - 2 | 2 - 4 - 2 |
CMS [Financial] | 2 - 3 - 1 | 3 - 5 - 2 | 3 - 5 - 2 | 3 - 5 - 2 |
CMS [Workflow] | 2 - 4 - 1 | 3 - 6 - 1 | 3 - 6 - 1 | 3 - 6 - 1 |
Anti-virus | N/A | 2 - 3 - 1 | 3 - 5 - 1 | 3 - 5 - 1 |
Effectiveness
There are many things that affect the efficiency of your team. They include environment, traits, leadership, benefits, team composition, and basic human needs. See employees for detailed information about each factor.
Example Team Compositions
All-Rounders
Attempt to make teams that max every skill. This way you can flow from development-marketing/support without much thought. Employees will want compensation for their skills and it will take a few in-game years to gain experience and then the training. Art is the hardest skill to gain and is the most damaging to development. Programming can be trained fairly consistently with support jobs.
"That One Big Team of Randoms"
A team full of unused employees with HR set to train them constantly for two months. Can be used to reduce the "feeling useless" penalty and to quickly boost skill levels.
Multi-Role
Teams that contain members specialized in each role. 2 Designers, 5 Programmers, 1 Artist. It takes less time to complete training and they can also go from development-marketing/support, but members not currently in use will be idle and require a lounge to avoid bugging others. (I have noticed in some games, the speed associated with design/development/art seems to be tied to the overall team rating.)
Single-Role
Teams consist of a single role with a high team rating. Education only in a primary field means they can be 100% in about a 1.5 years. They will all be idle/working at the same time. Setting the vacation to maximum months means the team is always about 85-95% staffed.
Designer
Programmer
Artist
Specialized
Marketing
Always have a separate marketing team. Makes your life so much easier.
Support
Specialized support teams with programmers can be helpful because then your primary programmers can focus solely on continous development of software.
Tips
- Teams should be about 10-12 people to maximize project effectiveness. Multiteam penalties have been nerfed so assigning 3 teams of 10 to a project that requires 30 is not a big deal.
- Most software does not require a lot of artists. It is recommended that you put your artists in your programmers team and set their role accordingly. There's no point in making a 'team' of 1 or 2 artists as you'll need another room plus a leader. HR can handle this in A10
- Always send your staff for training. If a program requires System and Network programming, always train your team in these skills as it will directly affect your product score when you outsource reviews in Alpha.
- Your support team will depend on how many active users you have using your products and how many bugs you fixed during Beta. Always try and accommodate for ongoing growth. Try and keep your support teams under 30.
- Marketing teams are similar to support teams, you must always account for growth, but note that with marketing, there will be a golden number depending on how much you spend on marketing for a product.
- At the beginning either split your initial marketing (and support) teams in to two of each, or increase the vacation range so fewer people are away at once.
Credits
Reddit: RexCL, Dryhtscipe Steam: Kuggar, Max, Discord:
Updated for <Alpha 10.5.1>