I don't think we are short of creative people with creative ideas.  The problem
is that management has structured the company in such a way as to inhibit
innovative ideas from surfacing.  There currently is no way to start and carry
through these creative and exciting projects.  If management is  serious about
creativity they would set up a structure to channel these ideas.  Since there is
no channel, they must not be too serious.  It is management's responsibility to
make the best of what they have sitting in front of them.


Please send all responses to @SYS$MAIL:JUNK

- brad -

	First of all, Brad, good luck getting much response to your message. We
are all either tired, dead or overscheduled. You can see it in the vaxmail.
No one responds anymore to humor, snivelgrams, or political commentary.
People ask me all the time why I don't write many messages anymore. Because
I don't get any replies.  I didn't get any remarks concerning "Virtual
Olfaction" (come one, what an opening line.) We didn't even have any April
Fool's Day pranks.

			WAKE UP, EVERBODY!

	Now back to your question, Brad. You know I agree with you completely!
I give up trying to be creative. The creativity is here and always has been.
There never has been a good way to tap it. If you step back and look, this
company is made up of many very interesting individuals who are involved in
a diverse set of activities and skills. We are a group of people who are
intelligent, clever, involved, and possess a good sense of humor and sharp
wits. So where is the creativity going?
	We have brainstorming sessions where good ideas are collected. Then
what happens with those ideas? How are the people that have those ideas
rewarded? How are "diverse" ideas greeted?
	(Answer: We don't know that market. We don't have qualified personnel
to handle that. We don't have the time or money to investigate that.)
	I won't snivel about my own experiences with creativity. If you don't
mind, Rusty, I'll site yours. How many years ago did Rusty suggest, through
proper channels (brainstorming), to do Network games???? Here was an idea
that poised almost no financial exposure to the company save his salary. No
expensive controls, cabinets and PCB's that may end up lanquishing in the
store room. Was he met with open arms?

	Wasn't Hard Drivin' meant to be a driving training simulator?
	Wasn't BMX meant to be a simulator and not a game? (oops, sniveling)
	What happened to our fancy 3D hardware project group?

	If you are a game programmer, hardware engineer, or close friends with
either, you have a chance at seeing your idea happen. If you are not, you
might as well just forget it. If you use your own time and resourses to
convince someone you have a good idea, you might see it happen. But you will
be told over and over again that having an idea isn't worth anything. Only
implementing an idea has value. The company has no insight into that some
people may have vision, even though they may not have the skill to implement
them. Bonuses are paid to the implementors.
	What's the answer to all of this? I really don't know anymore. Maybe a
good starting point would be to acknowledge the creativity in all of us and
not just a few.


			Carole

From:	MIKE::MCCOMB        8-APR-1992 14:14:12.41
To:	BERT::CAMERON
CC:	
Subj:	reply

Carole,

I'm sure it's been said before, but for what my opinion is worth, 
I think one of the most important comments you made is the last sentence
in your next-to-last paragraph: "Bonuses are paid to implementors."

People respond to rewards, and the reality is that money is a major
reward.

I was very surprised that so many people got upset, felt threatened,
ran for cover, etc., when the Tengen group sent out humorous
20th anniversary slogans.

regards,
Chris

From:	KIM::PLOTKIN      "Sharon Plotkin"  8-APR-1992 14:43:47.01
To:	BERT::CAMERON
CC:	
Subj:	

Carole--

Is it too late to respond to the "Virtual Olfaction" notice?
(...just kidding.......)

And by the way thanks for putting into copy so well the kind of things that
folks around here have been muttering for some time...

Just sign me,

Dead Tired of being Overscheduled

(Sharon)

From individuals who have ventured forth and given suggestions (that 
were taken and used) mainly myself and Hoendervoogt, I would like to inform
all that there is no benifit to suggest.  I have made efforts with promise 
of ripe apples and have enjoyed the core while others reap the benifits
and cold cash.  I realize that we were acknowledged in the rolling scroll
at the beginning of the game but would the other members of the team be
satisified with the same bodatious reward? .......NOT..............
Fair is fair, and this ain't it............Howard & Mark

I agree that there is a problem in gettting your idea to market if you are
not a programmer.  It appears that Atari is not set up to use ideas that come
from people other than the programmers and game designers, unless these people
can be convinced (through pitch sessions or otherwise) that these ideas will be
the next smash hit.  Part of the reason that this is so is because when it
comes to evaluating ideas, there is no right or wrong.  Who is to say what will
be successful and what won't?  No one really knows, so the person(s)
responsible for the project makes the call.

Part of reason why things are set up the way they are is that the programmers
must be 100% behind the project that they are working on.  The work required
for a successful game is too demanding for a half-hearted attitude.  Too many
late nights and weekends are required to be merely an implementor of someone
else's idea.  Also, the project leader must shoulder the burden of an
unsucessful product.  It's difficult enough to do when it was your idea.  If
a flop was someone else's idea, it would be even more difficult to swallow.

So this is the way it works now.  Is this the best way?  I don't know.  But I do
know of another way.  Other companies have a position known as a "Producer." 
Producers are responsible for designing all of the games, then they just dole
them out to the programmers.  Programmers become mostly implementors,
although they do have the oppurtunity to convince the producer that their ideas
are worth implementing.  But the producers get the final say in everything.
They are also responsible for the scehduling, and the success or failures of
all the projects.  For a staff of our size, we would have only 2 - 4 producers.
They would act as a funnel for ideas that get turned into games.  They would be
"the way" that the creativity in all parts of the company could be accessed.
They are different from what we call project leaders in that programmers
are never producers, and the ratio of projects to producers is more than 1:1.
Also, producers can have a more global picture of the company resources and
needs, since they are a part management, and do no technical work.  The company
can more directly drive the direction of our products through the producers.

There are many problems, however, with this approach.  There would be fewer
people responsible for the ideas that come out of Atari.  This could mean
less diversity in ideas.  Also, I believe the programmers would be unhappy
about not getting to implement their own ideas.  Unhappy employees are
unproductive employees.  I can only speak for myself for sure, but I believe
that part of the reason that many programmers choose to program here rather
than any of the other zillion companies in the valley is that we get to choose
what we want to work on.  Companies that use producers often have trouble
keeping their good programmers because they don't get enough freedom to design
their games.  Working under producers could possibly be like living under
a dictatorship.  The company's success would be directly linked to the quality
of its 2 or 4 producers.  Sounds risky to me.

In summary, using producers is one way of accessing creativity in all parts of
the company.  I know of 2 companies that are successfully using this approach. 
These 2 companies are prospering.  However, I'm not sure if this would work here
at Atari.  There are reasons for the way things are.  Management takes a
"convince me" approach, and if convinced, the project is initiated.  They could
take a more aggressive approach, more clearly defining and driving the direction
of the projects.  But that's not the way it is.  Management can change this,
if they think it will work best.  So far, I haven't heard that.

And Carole, you seem to have had some success in getting your ideas started.
Stun Runner and BMX Heat both came from brainstormings, I believe.  Bonnie's
game is starting up, also from Brainstorming.  It's not like programmers are
completely closed to ideas from other people.

Natalie
(one of Atari's programmers)

I normally don't participate in the junk mail chit chat because I'm one of those
"OVERSCHEDULED" individuals that Carol made reference to.  I felt compelled to
attempt to respond Brad's comments and share my perspective of what creativity
means to me.

In its most pure form CREATIVITY equates to "ORIGINAL" and/or "INNOVATIVE". Many
times people engaged in disciplines outside of the discipline that generated
something creative, confuse that creativity, if it is recognized, with "CLEVER".
The trap of confusing "CLEVER" with "CREATIVE" is typically due to an ignorance
of the idiosycratic nature of the other discipline. It is not untypical that a
person working within a discipline can be very creative and that creativity can
be ignored, not recognized, and often taken for granted because the person that
evaluated the results of that creativity may be ignorant of the details of that
discipline.

The problem of ignorance is often draped over by the corporate Balance Sheet.
The universal bottom line in evaluating the corporate worth of creativity is
the Balance Sheet which is the upper management bible the quantifies the worth
of creativity.  It is the Balance Sheet bulge that defines the monetary (bonus)
reward for creativity.

In this company, Programmers, Hardware Engineers, and their technical support
staff have the highest visibility, because they develop the games that provide
the major contribution to the Balance Sheet bulge.  This is the corporate
nature of ATARI Games, an Engineering Driven company, and the consequent lion
share of the reward goes to that segment of the company.

To me, the reward of creativity, is my own satisfaction knowing I did something
creative, it works, and it contributes to the benifit and sucess of the company
and it's employees.  All of us in our own way are creative. The degree that the
creativity is recognized by people within the company relies on their perception
of its worth to them.  A successful game is worth something to all ATARI employees
because it is reflected in their contiued employment and bonus.

Is it all fair ??? I don't know.  Fair is defined by those in position, with
the power, to reward creativity.  In any case we should strive to always be
creative in everything we do lest we fall prey to a golem state of existance.

Thanx....Tom

ps: Look over your shoulder the rest of the world is gaining on us.
    (sorry Satchel Page)

ISN'T THIS FABULOUS!
Sometimes when we struggle to come up with something elegant or exciting
or special we may tend to feel jaded, overburdened and frustrated because 
things aren't coming around as fast as we feel they should.  I think that
"creativity controversy" is great because it's shaking out some cobwebs in
folks that would otherwise keep their feelings to themselves and brood.

I thought I would put in my two cents worth, simply because I can.  Don't
be shy, after all we work for an entertainment company.

Always a pleasure,

Mike

       'The Creative Spirit' Part #3: Creativity in the Workplace

will be shown tomorrow at noon in the Engineering Common Area.  This is a very
good series on creativity that has been running on several PBS stations.  (I
personally find it inspiring.) 


All are welcome!

- brad -
x3788
[if you do not know how to get to the Engineering Common Area give me a call]

REMINDER:

       'The Creative Spirit' Part #3: Creativity in the Workplace

will be shown today at noon in the Engineering Common Area.

All are welcome!

- brad -

In the spirit of greater creativity at Atari, I offer the following
challenge (other than correcting my spelling). What are the top 10
reasons for the phones in the hallways? To get the ball rolling I
offer the following reasons (with their authors)


10. So that we can locate Counselor Troi from anywhere on the ship (me)

 9. So that we can finally answer those pesky "Would Captian Striker please
        go to the nearest white courtesy phone" pages (rusty)

 8. So that we can get phone calls in Atari's most popular conference rooms

 7. So engineers have something to aim at when they move the video games (lois)

	We are starting a new distribution list called:  CREATIVE

It is intended for you to voice your opinions, interests and knowledge 
about the world of human creativity.  For starters, I intend to send a
daily message to help us think more creatively.  If you would like to
contribute to the 'creativity pool' all you have to do is send a message
to:

@SYS$MAIL:CREATIVE

and all on the list will benefit from your ideas!

If you would like to be on this distribution list, please reply to this message.
The distribution list will be available on wednesday so SEND IN THOSE CARDS
SOON!  

- brad -


Here's is an example daily message:


			COMBINE IDEAS

"The time has come," the walrus said, "to talk of many things: of shoes - and
ships - and sealing wax - of cabbages - and kings."  Combining unusual ideas
is at the heart of creative thinking.  The ancients mixed soft iron with even
softer tin to create hard bronze.  Gutenberg combined the wine press and the
coin punch to crete moveable type and the printing press.

What different ideas can you combine?

Thanks to all who have replied to be added to the CREATIVITY POOL!

For those of you who have not replied it's never too late.  But, from now on,
you must send a message to SHEPPERD to be added to the CREATIVE distribution
list.

- brad -

Today in the Common Area from 12 to 1, the CREATIVE Special Interest Group
will be showing:

"The Creative Spirit Part I - Exploring the Creative Mind"

All are welcome!


- brad -