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 Features
Becoming a Stellar Games Industry Manager, Part 1: Building a Great Team
 Ask the Tough Questions
Ask potential team members to evaluate their own skills and weaknesses.
- Do they fit into the team’s key roles?
- Do they seem able to grow with the project and benefit from lessons learned?
- How do they view their role within a team? Are they willing to do whatever is asked?
- Do they show enthusiasm for and understanding of the team’s purpose?
- Have any of them ever worked with any other potential team members?
- Have any of them ever worked on a team?
Years ago, industry gurus warned managers to beware the lone programmer in a room. While people laugh, the fact is that anyone on a team who really prefers to work alone will need to adapt pretty fast or be left behind. A lot of new people just entering the industry (and even some older ones) balk at what they perceive as enforced socialization or excessive supervision. They don’t like being held accountable, they don’t like deadlines and they don’t like to let go of the cool assignments. If that’s the case, they are in the wrong end of the business! Be sure that potential team members really understand what’s involved when they make a commitment to the job.
If you’re building a team for a long-term project, you’ll want to know how team members see their own career goals. In addition to the standard “where do you want to be in five or ten years?” you might want to find out:
- Have you thought seriously about your career options overall? How about here at the company?
- Have you considered what experience you need to follow your career path?
- Are you aware that your contribution to the team’s success may help advance your career?
- Do you understand that ultimately, forward progress on your career is in your hands?
What's "Synergy?"
Synergy is the highest activity of life; it creates new untapped alternatives; it values and exploits the mental, emotional, and psychological differences between people.
– Stephen Covey
Although the term isn’t new (it comes from the Greek word sunergia meaning "cooperation"), it didn’t become a “hot” concept in business until the early 1990s. Positive collaboration is essential if you want to take full advantage of a team’s abilities. Although the saying may seem trite, a great group can grow well beyond the sum of its parts. Growth doesn’t come just from the group’s actions but also through each team member’s personal development.
Match the Team to the Task
The project will determine the type of team you need so it’s important to be very familiar with all of your options, from a spontaneous one-shot brainstorming session to a formal team created at management’s direction.
Some situations call for “informal” teams created on an ad hoc basis:
- Temporary teams pulled together for the a specific task
- A change in strategy that requires special skills to deal with a one-time challenge
- Spontaneous “hot groups” for brainstorming outside the formal team
- Cross-functional teams that provide the chance to learn about the roles and work of others.
- Formal teams sometimes need informal elements to stimulate and refresh their work.
- Teams cease to be teams if one member becomes dominant.
Cross-functional teams may also be created at any level to benefit from high levels of expertise:
- Business teams at all levels of an organization sometimes put people with similar expertise in long-term teams to oversee specific projects
- Formal support teams provide internal expert administrative backup in their own fields.
TYPES OF TEAMS |
TASKS AND CHARACTERISTICS |
EXECUTIVE TEAM: A cross-functional group led by a chief executive. Members are chosen by role (i.e., VP of Development, etc.) |
Manages organization or divisional operation on a daily basis. Regular formal meetings (agendas & minutes). If leadership is weak, the team can become a forum for personal battles and ladder-climbing |
CROSS-FUNCTIONAL TEAM: Multidisciplinary, interdepartmental team that can exist at any level |
Designed to remove obstacles across departments. Team members apply a variety of skills to achieve goal. |
BUSINESS TEAM: Tasked with long-term management of a project with a focus on financial results. |
Runs a unit to achieve the most cost-effective results. May endure revolving door of managers with fairly close supervision and scrutiny from senior management. |
FORMAL SUPPORT TEAM: Team provides services (financial, MIS, administration, staffing) |
Heavy load of routine work, often highly procedural and hierarchical. Limited opportunity for advancement. |
PROJECT TEAM: Specifically designed for the project, often with clear ending date. |
Requires subgroups, detailed planning, tight scheduling, close discipline. Needs close team understanding to offset rigid restrictions. Also needs closer supervision due to high number of contractors and temp workers. |
CHANGE TEAM: Group of experts tasked with evaluating and upgrading processes. Value depends on collective abilities. May start as special team attached to senior management. |
Influences corporate culture to achieve improvements with new methods. Often run by contractors with direct reporting to senior management; often seen as “hired guns” |
“HOT” GROUP: Short-term group designed for brainstorming; frequently multi-disciplinary; frequently meets off-site |
Concentrates on high-level tasks like identifying and targeting new markets or creating new directions for the company. Usually high-powered people (often consultants) who can devise exciting new ideas quickly for senior management. |
TEMPORARY TASK FORCE: Short-term group tasked by senior management with finding solutions to specific problems or issues |
Designed to work at high levels (overhaul the company’s entire IT system or design new production methods). Works under intense time pressure to generate cost-effective alternatives that grow (or save) the company |
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