Want To Build a Great Game? Build a Great Team First

If I could solve all the problems myself, I would. --
Thomas Edison, when asked why he had a team of twenty-one assistants

So you’ve got this fantastic idea for a totally cutting-edge game that does all this cool stuff and should make you boatloads of money. It sounds great but … are you planning to build this all by yourself? Even if you’re a one-person production house who can survive on huge amounts of caffeine and absolutely no sleep, it’s really not a great way to get things done. Assuming you could do it all, you’ll be too trashed to enjoy the results of all that work!

The solution to your dilemma is a four-letter word: T-E-A-M.

What's a Team?

Team: A group organized to work together.
(www.dictionary.com)

A team is a group of people working together to achieve a goal, which can be anything from winning the World Series to creating the newest FPS. At its best, a team uses a ton of mad skills to come up with (hopefully cost-effective) non-traditional solutions that give their company a major edge on the competition. At its worst, it’s a bottomless pit with the potential to sink the company ship forever.

While there’s no single rule about when to use a team, certain situations seem to lend themselves better than others:

Successful team building and management is probably a manager’s most difficult – and potentially most rewarding – challenge.

What's Teamwork?

Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision. The ability to direct individual accomplishments toward organizational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results. – Andrew Carnegie

All teams need the same things: effective leadership, positive motivation, achievable goals and excellent communication in an open, supportive and mutually respectful environment. In other words, team members have to be able to work and play well with each other. Building a team is like building anything else (including games) -- the best plan in the world won’t survive without a solid foundation. The stronger the plan and the more positive the environment, the more successful your team will be.

What Makes a Good Team?

Gettin' good players is easy. Gettin' 'em to play together is the hard part. – Casey Stengel

There’s no “magic number” of people required for a successful team (other than more than one). Whether you have two people or 200, the team’s shape is far more important than its size. Finding people with basic skills is important but getting people with the right mix of skills is crucial if you want to succeed.

Look for team members who posses demonstrated experience in at least one of the three major skill types (and yes, more is better!):

Ask the Tough Questions

Ask potential team members to evaluate their own skills and weaknesses.

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:

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:

Cross-functional teams may also be created at any level to benefit from high levels of expertise:

Who Leads and Who Follows?

Everyone on the team needs to have great skills and leaders need to have lots of great skills, not just as individuals but also as motivators, guide, mentors and yes, occasionally traffic cops. They need to be able to lead from the frontlines, from within the team, from the sidelines and sometimes push from the rear. Some of these skills are very subjective – like having a positive attitude, a strong personal vision and the ability to translate that vision into action while making sure you give everyone a chance to make a contribution. A team’s success will depend on the quality of its collective thinking under your direction and its ability to act on that thinking creatively and efficiently.

As the team leader, along with everything else you’ll be doing, be prepared to:

Your team looks to you for inspiration, so be ready to:

Throughout the course of a project, you’ll have a lot of other roles, from advocate and liaison with management to the mechanic who has to make repairs, deal with the “squeaky wheels” and fine-tune the team’s engine. Initially you’re the person who organizes the team. Once you’ve got the team together, you become a facilitator, cheerleader and (hopefully infrequently) troubleshooter.

“Action” words for successful team leaders:

Understand Everyone's Job (Including Your Own)

In an effective team, team members know their roles thoroughly. Even if you’re not a programmer, for instance, you’ll need to have a basic understanding about it, if for no other reason than you’ll need to know whether your team can or can’t make a particular thing happen in the game. If you’ve never done art, find a time when you can sit down with an artist and watch what she does.

Although individuals may emerge in one of the following roles, the leader will probably have to be all of these things at one time or another:

With your help, team members need to “own” their jobs and be held responsible for finding the best ways to support each other and do excellent work. Multi-skilled team members should know what each role does, and should be able to cover at least one other person’s job if necessary. This kind of flexibility makes the team stronger and provides additional insurance for success.

If you’re a new leader joining an existing team, be prepared for caution and doubt mixed with hope and interest. To some extent, your ability to succeed depends on the previous leader’s standing and the reason for the leadership change, so it’s important for you to make a positive first impression. If the team you inherited has done well under a strong leadership, recognize that; if not, presume that the members hunger for reform. However, even if your predecessor was disliked and regarded as totally incompetent, or if the team is failing, don’t dwell on past faults or poor performance and don’t bash the departed. Demonstrate trustworthy behavior, promote team bonding and appear confident without being brash or egotistical. Refocus the team towards the goal – in essence make it clear that you’re all going forward from here together.

Things to Avoid

Points to Remember

In part two, we'll discuss managing your dream team!