Andrew Greenberg

Happy Father’s Day! Today has brought to mind the new way I am handling my task lists. Most game devs utilize some form of a task list, be it as a Gantt chart, a milestone checklist, or a bunch of posties (not pasties) littering the office. For me, one of the learning experiences in having a baby is the need to be really specific about the tasks I need to accomplish. For instance, in the past my task list had broad categories, like “Playtest Noble Armada” or “Contact SIEGE Speakers.”

For more reasons than I care to go into, that has proven less than optimal with a baby. Such broad tasks require that I have an hour uninterrupted in which to complete them (or at least 15 minutes). That has proven a tad unattainable. Thus my new tasks are more like, “Recreate firing arc bug,” “Contact a potential SIEGE keynote,” and the all-to-frequent “Find my cup of coffee.”

I’ve always prided myself on my multitasking, but babies take it to a whole new level, and I cannot keep that many tasks operating in my sleep-deprived mind. Even the baby tasks need to be broken down into very discrete steps:

1.       Respond to baby’s cries;
2.       Check diaper;
3.       Remove diaper;
4.       Remove lid from diaper pail;
5.       Drop diaper in pail;
6.       Pick up diaper from where it fell in a mess on the floor and place in pail;
7.       Open wet wipe container;
8.       Remove one wet wipe;
9.       Return the other five wipes that came out with it;
10.   Clean squirming baby;
11.   Realize you did need those other five wipes
12.   Remove more wipes;
13.   Clean squirming, wailing baby;
14.   Throw out wipes;
15.   Remove lid from diaper pail again;
16.   Throw out wet wipes again;
17.   Dry baby bum;
18.   Find next diaper while holding squirming, wailing, kicking baby;
19.   Indian wrestle baby into diaper and Velcro it closed;
20.   Attach Velcro to diaper instead of to baby;
21.   Rock baby back to some semblance of quiet while putting diaper pail lid back on before house explodes;
22.   Wash hands;
23.   Hear telltale noise of another infant bowel expulsion;
24.   Repeat.

Any other parents have to break down their task lists to this degree of granularity?