Is there any point in the development process where this structure shows weakness, or have you hit upon a structure that is resistant to stress?

Justin D'Onofrio: The structure that we have is pretty resistant to stress - everyone knows what is going on at any given time, even in areas outside their responsibility, which keeps everybody on the same page (for the most part).

Where stress comes into play is when a problem arises, and there's not enough hard enforcement of the hierarchy - who gets to order whom around.

This can lead to some uncomfortable situations, where you need to step in and say "Yes, great idea, but the situation is that so-and-so has the final word on this, and that's the way it has to be."

Luckily the guys on my team are incredibly talented (hopefully everyone has great folks on their teams!), so even though some ideas need to get vetoed, they at least understand the reasoning behind it - this sort of openness is an advantage of a flatter system, while also being a potential detriment. Juggling both sides and trying to be as diplomatic as possible is the key to making it work.

Ben Gunstone: Our structure shows signs of stress at the busiest periods (as expected really) - when our leads are then required to be responsible for their team, fixing bugs, assigning bugs, making sure the game works, providing regular builds to QA and generally being a catch-all for all aspects of their discipline.

But, then again, I've not worked anywhere where the build up to either a latter milestone or beta to cert periods aren't busy and stressful for all concerned.

Robbie Edwards: I feel the pod structure works very well from a quality of work, efficiency and consistency of work stand point, but it suffers in helping the team fully understand the project vision. Each group is tightly focused on their specific efforts and seeing the big picture is quite a bit more challenging.

Ubisoft Paris' Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, on which Robbie Edwards worked as producer.

For now, the benefits are greater than the costs, but as the company culture and team dynamic grows and changes, there may be a desire to move back to a flat work structure in the future. I certainly do not believe that there is a perfect structure for everyone, but rather a perfect structure for each project's unique situation and developer dynamic.

Frank Rogan: No structure will be resistant to stress! As always, it's important to find the right people for your leadership roles. It's not always the case where the "best" artist should be promoted to a management position, because the skills required of the best artist (however you define that) are not the same skills required of the lead artist.

One thing I will say is that you should avoid situations where your leads are actually on the production schedule to deliver an equal share of work or assets as everyone else. There will be plenty of problems to solve and things for your leads to worry about above and beyond day-to-day work.

The opinions expressed by these producers are their own and do not necessarily reflect the opinions, plans or positions of the companies where they work.