New Tool

Good chance people recognize the tool in the screenshot. We’re shifting our planning out of a custom Google Sheets document and into Jira. Why the change? Easier to access, easier to work with, and most importantly, it’s a tool we both use for work at this point so we know it pretty well.

Last Meeting

This past meeting we tweaked our original list of goals for v2.0 and decided on priorities. We also decided that meeting weekly for this stretch of Thursday night is working well and we’ll continue for the foreseeable future. We may change to a less frequent cadence once planning is complete, but until we get everything planned we will continue at the weekly pace.

Next Meeting

Much like the last two, we’re going to continue planning this week. Now that we have overall goals, we need to setup the stories that define them and the bite size pieces we’re going to use to eat the elephant. Planning continues, same bat time same bat channel. Thursday night 9:30 – 10:30 Eastern (6:30 – 7:30 Pacific) on our Discord server (leave a comment if you would like to join us). If you don’t currently have access and would like it, please either reach out to one of us directly or post a comment and we will send you an invite.

Thanks again for all of your continued support! #ExerfyYourGames

The post Planning a way forward – Setting Priorities appeared first on Model B.

That hiatus ends this week. We learned much during the v1.0 Alpha and in the time since then. So much that we have come to realize we need to iterate on a couple of specific elements in the design to make Holoseat more robust and more affordable.

With that in mind, we will be holding a v2 development kickoff meeting this Thursday night 9:30 – 10:30 Eastern (6:30 – 7:30 Pacific) on our Discord server (leave a comment if you would like to join us). We will be setting up our Jira project by defining our release goal(s) and setting the top level features (detailed agenda below).

Agenda

1. Define goal(s) for v2.0
2. Capture v2.0 Features
3. Prioritize v2.0 Features
4. Establish meeting cadence

Thanks again for all of your continued support! #ExerfyYourGames

“Microphone head” by sparetomato is licensed with CC BY 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

The post Testing… testing… is this thing on? appeared first on Model B.

We can officially confirm a couple of crucial tasks were undersized this sprint.  The most significant one is the port of our source from Open Design Engine to the development builds of the Sliderule CLI.  We are clearly going to have to re-scope this sprint.

Backlog – See Sprint 2 tab for current sprint plan and Backlog tab for full backlog.

Reports

J.

Did

• Ported parts, tools, and precautions for sensor to Sliderule, missing the assembly instructions

Will Do

• Add assembly instructions for Sensor to Sliderule port

Blocks?

• Sliderule needed more time to prep for Holoseat than anticipated; dividing development time between the two projects

Bryan

Did

• Still preparing materials for lawyer
• Mostly complete with bank things

Will Do

• Reply to lawyer
• Finish bank things

Blocks?

• Missing some required materials

The post PY19 Sprint 2 Stand Up 4 appeared first on Model B.

Two things show up this week in our burn down chart.  One, its total size changed because we found an error in our sprint sizing.  Two, we are moving more slowly than we would like.  Some of our tasks appear undersized, so we will just have to see how much we can actually get done.

Backlog – See Sprint 2 tab for current sprint plan and Backlog tab for full backlog.

Reports

J.

Did

• Started laying out sensor source in Sliderule

Will Do

• Finish porting sensor to Sliderule
• Publish belated sprint kick off blog post

Blocks?

• none

Bryan

Did

• Published blog post
• Made contact with lawyer
• Reached out to Evil Mad Scientist Labs

Will Do

• Reply to lawyer
• Deal with bank things
• Start work on COGS calculations

Blocks?

• none

The post PY19 Sprint 2 Stand Up 3 appeared first on Model B.

1. I loved playing video games
2. I didn’t get enough exercise
3. Overall the concept sounded really cool.

Over the years though, that has evolved. To explain why Holoseat is important to me now, I need to talk about my life. I suffer from social anxiety and depression.

Just typing that was something I couldn’t have brought myself to do when we started on Holoseat five years ago. Back then I didn’t realize how much I was struggling with my mental health. Thankfully, through the support of my family and friends I realized how much it was affecting me.

The blogs and podcasts I follow have helped me realize the importance of speaking publicly about my mental health. Society still heavily sigmatizes those with mental illness in the US. Adding even one more voice to the discussion surrounding mental health is something that is needed. I’m willing to add my voice thanks to the influences of Wil Wheaton, Jenny Lawson, and Justin and Syndee McElroy.

Why have my mental health issues changed my motivations to work on Holoseat? The answer is simple and very well documented. Exercise helps, period. Study after study has shown that symptoms of both anxiety and depression can be relieved through exercise. Since I’m not one who’s likely to exercise as much as I should, having my normally sedentary hobby include a workout is huge win. Prior to having our child, I got up every morning and used the Holoseat for an hour to get in some gaming. I mean a workout. That resulted not only in weight loss but overall better mental health.

The percentage of people I know who identify as gamers who also have issues with anxiety and depression is pretty high. Many of those same people also admit don’t get enough exercise. By providing an outlet that combines something the person enjoys (gaming) and exercise it makes them more likely to get the exercise they need.

So why Holoseat? Because depression and anxiety suck, and using the Holoseat to exerfy games gives you another weapon in your arsenal to combat them. That I’m helping to create another weapon is what motivates me to work on Holoseat.

Exercise can be a weapon to combat these issues, but being open and honest about how they are affecting you is also important. I want to personally thank the people who have helped me and inspired me to be open about this. Your frank discussions of mental health have helped me get to this point.

• Wil Wheaton – Thank you for your discussions of mental health both on your blog and on the Radio Free Burrito podcast – http://wilwheaton.net/
  
• Jenny Lawson – Your openness and honesty about mental health is inspiring – https://thebloggess.com/
  
• Justin and Sydnee McElroy – Your podcast episode on Sawbones (Our Mental Health Stories) was the catalyst for this post. Justin mentioned exercise being something that helped, but that finding motivation was hardbecause he didn’t enjoy it. That one statement reminded me why I feel Holoseat is important.
• Finally, my wife Jess. My biggest cheerleader, my drill sergeant, my inspiration, and my best friend. Without you I probably still wouldn’t have recognized my mental health issues, let alone be willing to talk about them.

The post Why Holoseat? appeared first on Model B.

It has been a while since we posted, but we are back now (and back in sprint mode).  This sprint is primarily focused on moving from our Alpha design to our Beta design and some new marketing initiatives.  The first step in the redesign work is to update our project hosting to make it easier to track modifications to the design.

Backlog – See Sprint 2 tab for current sprint plan and Backlog tab for full backlog.

Reports

J.

Did

• Edited blog post for Bryan
• Finished sorting out new project documentation process

Will Do

• Move sensor module to sliderule

Blocks?

• none

Bryan

Did

• Worked on moving banks
• Pinged lawyer about TM
• Started reaching out to marketing contacts
• Drafted blog post (have a few more edits)

Will Do

• Finish moving banks
• Get a hold of lawyer
• Publish blog post

Blocks?

• none

The post PY19 Sprint 2 Stand Up 2 appeared first on Model B.

If you are in the area, you should check out the Con!  Bril and our newest Holoseat community member, Vox, will be around Friday and Saturday.  They will be running Holoseat demos (like in the video above) both days.  And, as an added bonus, Bryan and I will be attending via telecon Saturday to host a live panel discussion about Holoseat.

Thanks again for setting this up, Bril!

The post Holoseat is Coming to the 2019 Comics & Gamers CON in Rock Springs, WY appeared first on Model B.

With our work transitioning from development to testing and marketing, we have shifted from Scrum based sprints to Kanban based iterations.  This post will cover the results and lessons from two Kanbans, 1.1 and 1.2.  As always, you can get all the details by from our weekly stand ups.

Review

Agile reviews are an opportunity to hold ourselves accountable by identifying how much of what we planned we actually completed.

Claiming Done

• Setup alpha.holoseat.com and back end surveys to capture feedback from Alpha Testers
• Published first Alpha Tester guest blog post, Working Out with a Wargen in World of Warcraft
• Opened weekly stand up meetings to Alpha Testers
• Began relocating corporation to address logistics issues with current location
• Conducted research on better utilizing social media resources to build following ahead of crowd funding campaign
• Wrote a Holoseat Testimonials page (thanks to our testers for sharing their stories)
• Started the “How I Holoseat” blog series to share testimonials on the blog
• Research influencer marketing
• Submitted Holoseat to Hackaday

Not Claiming done

• Relocation of the corporation (blocked on state government)
• Holoseat trademark (blocked on relocation of the corporation)
• Build Facebook community around Alpha Testers (dropped from plan, going to rework the plan)
• Wrap up final paperwork related to Alpha Test

Retrospective

Agile retrospectives are the means by which we “inspect and adapt”.  This is our chance to promote what works and adjust what does not.

What went well?

• Great first guest blog post
• Good use of research into moving businesses between states turned into huge time savings in the process (domestication vs reincorporation)
• Good use of inspect and adapt mid-iteration around use of social media when planned activities were not working
• Did a good job of sticking to PY19 goals of focusing on marketing and business (notice we did not claim done on any technical items in this iteration)
• Happy with how the testimonials page/How I Holoseat combo turned out
• Our unfinished work is predominantly items that were blocked or we reworked the plan (vs just things we did not get around to)

What did not go well?

• We really must improve how we go about doing social media and marketing
• Uneven distribution of workload due to extenuating circumstances

What can we do better?

• Bring a marketer on board
• Try moving to 2 stand ups per week during PY19 Kanban 2.1 and evaluate if this helps with workload distribution

The post PY19 Iteration 1 Review and Retrospective appeared first on Model B.

I started using my Holoseat in September… After work I come home and play Shroud of the Avatar instead of watching TV. I have dropped 30 pounds in six weeks by using my Holoseat and watching what I eat. – Briluuria

This is great news, Bril! We are so happy for you. Keep us posted on your progress and keep exerfying Shroud of the Avatar!

The post How I Holoseat – Briluuria Edition appeared first on Model B.

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we are getting ready to take a short break before the final push this iteration.  Over a third of the remaining work is blocked on paperwork from the state of Virginia, so we may not close out everything on the list if we don’t hear from them in time.  If that turns out to be the case we will just wrap that administrative work up in December.

In the mean time, we are collecting some great test data and our testers are doing wonderful things like raising money for children’s hospitals on Holoseat.  We cannot express how thankful we are for our testers and everything they are doing.

Backlog – See Kanban 1.2 tab for current sprint plan and Backlog tab for full backlog.

Reports

J.

Did

• Distilled FB Pages research into actionable tasks

Will Do

• May work on testimonials page

Blocks?

• none

Bryan

Did

• Researched social media marketing (still have a little left before claiming done)
• Checked on license agreements (still waiting on one… J is checking old mail box)

Will Do

• Post next “How I Holoseat”

Blocks?

• Still waiting to hear back from Virginia for several tasks

The post PY19 Kanban 1.2 Stand Up 3 appeared first on Model B.