Webzen

Gaming Company Gets Projects Back on Track: Korean Gaming Leader Saves Money with Help from Project Management Software

Jun Huh, Project Manager, Webzen

Jun Huh often felt his life was one exhausting battle. As a project manager for Korean gaming leader Webzen, Huh oversees 63 game developers working on a number of projects. Keeping these talented creative types motivated, yet on schedule, is a precarious balancing act. “Software developers see project managers as their enemies,” explains Huh. “They consider themselves artists and hardly consider project management an important part of development. They think that we restrict their creativity.”

Yet, keeping projects on track is critical, because time-to-market is a matter of survival in the highly competitive gaming market. Webzen estimates that a six-month delay in a game’s introduction results in a 33 percent reduction in sales. Huh and other Webzen project managers struggled to stay on top of project status by using spreadsheets and manual tools. However, these tools were not dynamic enough to support frequent updates, corrections, and staffing adjustments.

“We updated our schedules monthly, but it took two weeks to make the updates,” Huh says. “I had to recalculate every developer’s workload, redo all the budgets, and even change the spreadsheet templates. By the time we found out that we were off schedule, we were even more off schedule. We often underestimated the resources needed and found ourselves short-staffed or over-staffed. All our decisions were based on assumptions, not facts.”

Developers Quitting

When a project veered off track, it triggered a downward spiral. “When developers realized that a project was behind and they had to work another year, they got very upset and would quit,” Huh says. “This was a huge problem for us last year. The delays affected our talent base, our revenues, and even our stock price.”

Since its founding in 2000, in Seoul, Korea, Webzen has grown to be a global digital entertainment leader, with 600 employees and subsidiaries in the region and in the United States. However, management realized that the science of project management was every bit as critical to the company’s future growth as the art of designing great games.

Project Management Software Assistance

Huh and his fellow project managers realized that they needed to use modern project management software, just as developers used the latest game design software. After surveying products from several vendors, Webzen selected Microsoft® Office Project Server 2007 and Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007. “We liked how the Microsoft project management products operated with the other Microsoft products that we have, such as Microsoft Office Outlook®, Microsoft Office Excel®, and Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007, and how easy they were to use,” Huh says.

Webzen brought in Neo Plus, a Microsoft Certified Partner, also of Seoul, to install the Microsoft products and train users. Ultimately, approximately 300 developers and project managers became fluent on Office Project Professional 2007.

Instant Project Updates

Today, Webzen employees can use the new solution to automatically link, monitor, and update every step of every development project, relieving project managers of doing the job manually. Huh and fellow project managers use executive dashboards to get instant snapshots of each project’s status, shown by red, yellow, and green indicators. Gantt charts show daily progress and exactly how many resources are being used in each area of the project. “I can now see how many hours each developer is working each day. If a developer is working fewer than eight hours, I can distribute more work to him. If he’s working more, I can redistribute the work,” Huh says.

With the time I’m saving now that I don’t have to schedule projects over and over, I can do better risk management and keep projects on track. Jun Huh, Project Manager, Webzen

If one aspect of a project slips behind schedule, employees can use Office Project Professional 2007 to reschedule all the other steps automatically. “I can check all assigned tasks daily, even hourly, and see any delays,” Huh says. “This lets me bring in additional resources, if needed, before we fall behind.”

Also, Huh can easily detect trends that might throw a project off course. For example, if an artist is late delivering his work, the software sends an e-mail message to Huh. This lets him reschedule other tasks that are dependent on delivery of the artwork, bring in additional resources, or even find a more dependable resource. “With the time I’m saving now that I don’t have to schedule projects over and over, I can do better risk management and keep projects on track,” Huh says. “I’m also able to spend more time on hiring, improving our processes, and improving developer morale.”

Improved Developer Collaboration

When developers complete a task, they enter it into Office Project Professional 2007, and the software sends them an e-mail message notifying them of their next task and due date. The software also sends messages to developers when there is a specification change that would affect their work.

When development team members want to discuss an idea or task with fellow team members, they use Office SharePoint Server 2007 to open a Web-based collaboration site from within Office Project Professional 2007, to collaborate by using an online discussion board.

“Developers really hated the new project management software at first, because it was like having a camera on their backs watching everything they did,” Huh says. “But it also raises their motivation by showing them exactly where the project stands and when it ends. This is a huge benefit. Once a developer loses his motivation, he quits. Since implementing the Microsoft project management tools, developers are more motivated and more loyal to Webzen.”

Significant Savings

Webzen estimates that its new project management software will save it millions of dollars over the next three years. Seventy percent of these savings will come from labor costs related to finishing projects on time and eliminating months of extra development work. Another 20 percent of the savings are indirect costs—outsourcing and training—and 10 percent is fixed cost savings—purchasing additional workstations and design software for new hires and contractors.

“We’re now able to manage our schedules far more precisely,” Huh says. “I can show my project vision to my developers and my managers, with accurate milestones. The benefits ripple throughout the company, to departments such as marketing and public relations, which need to plan their work around ours. I’m far more effective in my job and feel like I’m part of a team where everyone is pulling in the same direction.”

For more information about Webzen, call +82-2-3498-1600 or visit:
www.webzen.com

For more information about Neo Plus, call +82-2-2082-0500 or visit:
www.neoplus.co.kr