Session Name: | Leaders: Working at the Heart of the Team! |
Speaker(s): | Grant Shonkwiler, Andie Nordgren, Chelsea Curran-Adams, Alyssa Finley, Tanya Watson |
Company Name(s): | Shonkventures, CCP Games, Riot Games, Telltale Games, Squanchtendo |
Track / Format: | Production & Team Management |
Overview: | Project management methodologies and processes in the video game industry have been analyzed ad nauseum, often sold as production cure-alls. While these mechanics of game production are indeed important, there's another critical facet that has been explored far less: the emotional and elusive feel of being a great leader/producer/project manager. Once processes are in place, in order to maintain the health of a project the leader must have their finger firmly on the pulse of the team and be able to diagnose situations that often call for drastically different solutions. In this session, the speakers will investigate facets of soft skills and share specific situations that they have encountered throughout their careers and how soft skills have saved the team and shipped awesome games. Topics include training your team, building team culture, team morale, providing space to fail, structuring collaboration and using process to tell a story. |