This article is part of a continuing discussion of the working conditions in the games industry. We encourage you to contribute your views, knowledge and experiences — whether you are a developer, manager and/or player — here in the comment section, or, if you prefer, at my mailbox: raoul at innerbits.com.
Managing a games company is not very different from managing any other company. The same principles apply. Good management involves three key aspects: communication, strategy and planning. The goal is to create an environment where employees can do their work effectively.
Communication: The management can not always disclose everything that is happening to its employees, but it should strive to be as transparent as possible. When you work at a games company, the possibility of a buyout(or a closure, delays in the game, layoffs, etc) always exist. Communication should be open and fluid as to facilitate the work of the employees, and assure them they are working in a relaxed and comfortable environment.
Communication builds your employees’ trust. It shows you care about them, and that you want them to be able to do their job well. Employees want to remain informed. They also want to believe that their opinion counts for something, or is at the very least heard and understood by their superiors.
Strategy: The company must have a clear direction, and a clear plan for the future. Employees don’t want to endlessly do ports, or work on some IP for another publisher. They want to create something unique, and they want to know that there will be more work after the latest project is shipped. The company must have a solid strategy outlined. They should avoid scrambling from project to the project. The goal of the company must encompass long term stability, which should never be sacrificed for potential short term gains. Instability and uncertainty is what will drive away your most valuable resource, your talent – which is key to your long term success.
Planning: Planning goes hand in hand with the first two points, and ties them together. Without a realistic and detailed plan, the company will constantly drift, and employees will become frustrated by the apparent lack of direction. A management without clear plans is utterly incompetent and useless. This may strike the reader as obvious, especially if you come from outside the games industry, but the lack of proper planning is endemic in the industry. Too many companies and project managers simply wing it, because they incorrectly believe this will stifle the creativity of the game. In reality, a lack of planning only demonstrates sheer laziness on the part of management.
No project involving 50+ people can be effectively managed without a solid plan. Such a lackadaisical approach is why games ship late with a combination of missing features and feature creep (new features added late in development and usually not tested thoroughly enough). It’s why developers are forced to work stupid amounts of overtime. It’s why entire sub-systems of the game have to be ripped out and rewritten at the beginning of the project (because they were rushed and implemented very shoddily).
Planning in the games industry does not mean simply putting the requirements together, drawing up some time estimates, and setting the project off to go. Proper planning involves regular tracking of progress as well as constant revising of estimates (and features) to make sure that the target goal is still realistic and achievable. This may seem very tedious and time consuming, but once the proper processes are put in place, it becomes a very effective of managing a project. For further information on these processes (commonly known as agile development), please refer to the excellent site Agile Game Development.
The planning aspect deserves an entire series of articles, as it is probably the leading cause of long hours, and missed dates. I’ll go into more detail when we visit the topic of Good Working Practices.
So, what do you see as being key to good management?
[…] Good Management: I am not an expert on good management, but I know shitty management when I see it. Minimal or poor communication with employees is a telltale sign, as is the lack of a clear strategy, or effective planning. Good management is essential to employee satisfaction and therefore, performance. Workers need to know that they can trust their managers. Employees want clear and regular communication with management. At the very least, management should have developed a focused plan of execution, and a solid work scheduling system. Much too often game companies wing it, flying by the seat of their pants, focusing only on the next milestone, or rushing a game out, with little regard to the future. And the workers pay the price. (Read More…) Relaxed Work Environment: The most conducive environment for effective work is a quiet space, which allows employees to focus without distraction. However, if you are going to make employees work unreasonably long hours, make sure that they can get away during breaks. Do not turn the work place into a crazy fun house, but at least provide an area where employees can get away from their desk to relax, have fun, or socialize. […]
Left by Inner Bits » Blog Archive » The Game Developer Manifesto -- Changing the Games Industry, One Bit at a Time. on October 30th, 2006