Product Lead: Rules of Thumb — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00hey everybody Edo here and for this
2. 0:03week's League video I wanted to talk a
3. 0:05little bit about being a project or
4. 0:08product lead um this is just a set of 10
5. 0:12rules of thumb Concepts things to keep
6. 0:15in mind that I think are very useful
7. 0:18when running a product or a project I've
8. 0:21ran lots of games I've had game teams
9. 0:24larger than 50 people I've had game
10. 0:26teams that were me or me and a couple
11. 0:28other people and all that
12. 0:31everything in between beginning to end
13. 0:33and there are a few things over the
14. 0:34years that I've collected that are
15. 0:35really useful things to keep in mind
16. 0:37when running a team these aren't in any
17. 0:39particular order and most of them are
18. 0:42about process and and and dealing with
19. 0:45people and managing things this isn't
20. 0:47about how to make a good game per se but
21. 0:49boy it's super helpful and also isn't
22. 0:51talking about being a good communicator
23. 0:54you know organized all those things on
24. 0:57time all those things that are good for
25. 0:58product leads as well these are more
26. 1:00just things that I think of when I talk
27. 1:02to people about you know sort of rules
28. 1:04of thumb if you will okay I'm also going
29. 1:06to try to have a decent clip because I
30. 1:08picked 10 so first and
31. 1:10foremost when you're running a product
32. 1:13uh often times you can feel like there's
33. 1:16lots of things going on and people need
34. 1:17to know what they're doing and get
35. 1:19really anxious and concerned about
36. 1:20development and how it's progressing and
37. 1:22the first thing I like to tell people is
38. 1:24all you need to be is one day ahead of
39. 1:28development one day ahead of your team
40. 1:30that's it I think you can have that
41. 1:32anxiety and want to plan and have it all
42. 1:35figured out and know the you know the
43. 1:37project day after day after day but the
44. 1:39reality is sometimes you can't sometimes
45. 1:41there's Dynamic things going on
46. 1:43sometimes you're underwater sometimes
47. 1:45there's a change and it could create
48. 1:47this Stress and Anxiety but the reality
49. 1:49is as long as everyone can get to their
50. 1:51desk or from home or wherever people are
51. 1:53working they can come in and work you
52. 1:56have that much time to figure out what
53. 1:58you need to do so so just make sure
54. 2:02tomorrow makes sense if people come sit
55. 2:05work get their work done and go home you
56. 2:08have that time so you have that time to
57. 2:10plan your next thing sometimes you need
58. 2:11to do that for day after day after day
59. 2:14one day hand to mouth but that's once
60. 2:16you get a rhythm you can then take your
61. 2:19time and to plan out further but it's
62. 2:20always okay to just be one day ahead and
63. 2:23it's really important to be comfortable
64. 2:25that you're just one day ahead then work
65. 2:27your way out so number two uh and this
66. 2:31is another similar one but a little bit
67. 2:33different if you know you're going in
68. 2:36the right direction if you know what you
69. 2:39are doing is required and necessary then
70. 2:42you are absolutely doing the right thing
71. 2:46right and and let me say it a little
72. 2:47differently like it's easy during a
73. 2:49project to to get concerned about how
74. 2:52things are coming together what needs to
75. 2:53be done and where when but if you know
76. 2:55there's a bunch of work that has to
77. 2:57happen and people are doing that work
78. 3:00you're not losing time you're not behind
79. 3:03if they're doing the things they need to
80. 3:05do and they're not yet done you have
81. 3:08time so both one and two are about
82. 3:09managing that anxiety as a producer
83. 3:12wanting to make sure everyone is working
84. 3:14getting their things done at at Max
85. 3:16efficiency but if you know they are
86. 3:19doing what they need to be doing then
87. 3:22you are at Max efficiency right um trust
88. 3:25me if you've been in that position it's
89. 3:27good to know that here's the next one
90. 3:29now I'm going to PIV a little bit next
91. 3:31one is this idea of losing to logic and
92. 3:32I think this is really important as a
93. 3:34product lead and a Project Lead is it's
94. 3:37critical that you recognize and realize
95. 3:40when you are wrong and you recognize and
96. 3:42realize when a different decision needs
97. 3:44to be made you need to pay attention and
98. 3:47when there is a sound reasonable and
99. 3:50logical argument to do something
100. 3:51different you need to recognize it
101. 3:53consider it and unless you come up with
102. 3:55a better logical reason stick with it
103. 3:58don't get caught up in the emotional
104. 3:59side of product development don't you
105. 4:01you can sometimes you want to be um you
106. 4:04want to get people thr all excited
107. 4:06engaged but you don't want to be in a
108. 4:09position where you're you're pushing a
109. 4:11team in a way that doesn't make sense or
110. 4:14doesn't reflect the scenario now the
111. 4:16bigger the organization the more you
112. 4:18might be forced into that position but
113. 4:20if you're not forced into that position
114. 4:22don't do it if you can avoid it okay the
115. 4:25next one I like to call or say often I
116. 4:29can't care and I don't care and to me um
117. 4:34this reflects what I find as a need from
118. 4:36a production and producer standpoint is
119. 4:38to you want people to understand that
120. 4:41you care about them as your teammate as
121. 4:44individuals that you understand what
122. 4:46their situation is what might be going
123. 4:48on you really genuinely care about
124. 4:52people but you need to have that in
125. 4:54combination with this other one that
126. 4:56don't care where there's a deadline
127. 4:59something needs to be get got you know
128. 5:01get done some you need to override
129. 5:03somebody's decision and being able to
130. 5:06both Express Care in what you're doing
131. 5:09and then you know sort of um steadfast
132. 5:12just the reality of the situation is
133. 5:14really important as a product manager
134. 5:15and I've just F
135. 5:16found when it's you know knowing how to
136. 5:20split that in your head and say look
137. 5:22it's not it's not that I don't care
138. 5:24about this person this is just the
139. 5:25decision I need to make and be able to
140. 5:28express that to people and be able to
141. 5:29show them you know another little side
142. 5:32bit about this is like especially if
143. 5:34you're in an office don't just only go
144. 5:36talk to people and see people when you
145. 5:37need things right don't only email
146. 5:40somebody or IM somebody or call somebody
147. 5:41on your team if it's digitally
148. 5:43distributed when you need something make
149. 5:46sure you mix in talking to them and
150. 5:48hearing about their day the pleasantries
151. 5:51matter and they help when you have to
152. 5:53make decisions they're worth the
153. 5:55investment get to know the people you're
154. 5:56working with get to communicate with
155. 5:58them not just in a action need basis
156. 6:02that's a really big
157. 6:03deal next one's a big one too simple lot
158. 6:07of Engineers will hear this garbage in
159. 6:10garbage out now often times this is
160. 6:12about data if you've got bad data bad an
161. 6:14analytics your your your your the
162. 6:17information you're getting from users is
163. 6:19is inaccurate or grabbed poorly and then
164. 6:22you come to conclusions the conclusions
165. 6:23are bad but that's really true all sorts
166. 6:26of ways make sure that the information
167. 6:29you're getting whether it's from play
168. 6:30tests or FR you know or play test is a
169. 6:33good one um other individuals your team
170. 6:35research you're
171. 6:36doing understand the information and and
172. 6:40whether it's accurate or not if you're
173. 6:42going to use information as the basis
174. 6:44for an answer if you have inaccurate
175. 6:45information you're going to have an
176. 6:46inaccurate answer sure sometimes that
177. 6:48might not be the case but really
178. 6:50that you know you know no know what's
179. 6:54going in to know what's coming out right
180. 6:57okay again with a clip so this is
181. 6:59another good one and I've expressed this
182. 7:01to lots of people um almost always less
183. 7:05work for you means more work for
184. 7:08somebody else this is a really important
185. 7:10team concept if you're an engineer or an
186. 7:13artist or you've come up with a solution
187. 7:15where you say like a really good example
188. 7:16would be like rather than um you
189. 7:20know creating what's uh um from an
190. 7:24engineering perspective rather than
191. 7:25setting this up in a procedural way um
192. 7:27let's have unique art for each thing or
193. 7:29something like that right where an
194. 7:31engineer is creating a solution that
195. 7:33creates more art or another one would be
196. 7:37like a designer shortcutting something
197. 7:39that results in in in in more art for
198. 7:41somebody else or even something as
199. 7:43simple as um not doing a good job
200. 7:47describing like a really good example is
201. 7:50um you have a list of cards that you
202. 7:53want um the characters you want to have
203. 7:55arted and you have their character names
204. 7:57well you could just give the artist the
205. 8:00names and say figure it out but that
206. 8:02actually means that that artist has to
207. 8:04do more work the work the the work is
208. 8:06absolute and so if you find a shortcut
209. 8:08that might be great but the reality is
210. 8:10it probably impacts another team so
211. 8:12thinking about through and as a as a
212. 8:14person running the project understanding
213. 8:16weight distribution and work
214. 8:17distribution between teams especially if
215. 8:19you're paying some people in different
216. 8:21way like you know makes makes a big
217. 8:23difference and it's something you want
218. 8:25to keep in mind
219. 8:26um another one that's really important
220. 8:30it's not trust it's verification right
221. 8:33if you want to something if your product
222. 8:36is moving around your Project's going on
223. 8:38you verifying the work that's been done
224. 8:41double-checking edits um if it's a it's
225. 8:43a if it's a a video game QA it
226. 8:46yourself if somebody says oh it's
227. 8:51fine you should still as a product lead
228. 8:54make sure you are very confident in and
229. 8:57a lot of people react poorly to that
230. 8:59they're like I looked at it I did it I
231. 9:00covered it I made the call I told them
232. 9:02what it was you know I talked to the
233. 9:03event
234. 9:05coordinator but just understanding and
235. 9:07emphasizing that projects this is
236. 9:11complex project management with multiple
237. 9:14people means failure there there will
238. 9:17always be cases where something gets
239. 9:18dropped the ball and it's not any
240. 9:20specific person's fault it's hard it's
241. 9:22complicated and verifying things again
242. 9:27is there's nothing wrong with that it's
243. 9:28better for the is better for everyone
244. 9:30overall so don't let people get
245. 9:31defensive about it it's not about trust
246. 9:34it's about verification um so another
247. 9:38good
248. 9:40one is it's another it's not
249. 9:44um and this is you got to have a good
250. 9:46balance for this is it's not
251. 9:49micromanagement it's attention to detail
252. 9:53and if you want to have a really
253. 9:54successful project and one that's run
254. 9:57really well you need to have attention
255. 9:58to deta detail you need to make sure you
256. 10:02cross dot the eyes and cross the te's
257. 10:04and all that stuff and triple and check
258. 10:07and make sure things are going the right
259. 10:08way and be on top of things that's your
260. 10:11job you want to have that attention to
261. 10:12detail and often times that's seen as
262. 10:17micromanagement that is seen as being
263. 10:20overbearing helicoptering around and
264. 10:22it's a balance but you need to make sure
265. 10:24you don't give up attention to detail to
266. 10:26try and not micromanage
267. 10:30at the end of the day if you're a
268. 10:31product lead you're the person who's
269. 10:34making sure that every detail is is paid
270. 10:37attention to because everyone else is
271. 10:38typically looking in their one's Zone
272. 10:40and you're looking across the whole
273. 10:42thing uh developers too often have to
274. 10:44have that attention to detail okay that
275. 10:46was number seven oh no that was number
276. 10:48eight number nine okay conflict among
277. 10:53team 90% of the time when there is a
278. 10:56conflict within your team it's because
279. 10:58people don't have the same
280. 11:00information or they don't have the right
281. 11:02prioritization or the same
282. 11:03prioritization really I I have to say
283. 11:06teams want to be successful people all
284. 11:08want to make the best game po possible
285. 11:10right people are trying to sabotage
286. 11:12things like they all I mean of course
287. 11:13you could have some weird case but
288. 11:15almost always people just want to be
289. 11:17successful they just happen to have
290. 11:19different information or they happen to
291. 11:21have different priorities so product
292. 11:23what you should do when you're faced
293. 11:25with problem you know those types of
294. 11:26issues get people in the
295. 11:27room make sure everyone has all the
296. 11:31right information that's also the
297. 11:32garbage in garbage out and make sure
298. 11:34they understand the priorities and often
299. 11:35time the prod is a person who can
300. 11:37resolve conflict of priorities right so
301. 11:39once that's done really you'll see a lot
302. 11:41of those issues fade away you might have
303. 11:43some disgruntled I mean you might have
304. 11:45some some under your breath or but at
305. 11:47the same time sometimes it's just like
306. 11:50this is it oh okay I get it bring people
307. 11:53together communicate work together okay
308. 11:56last
309. 11:57one this is actually um a saying or or
310. 12:02something uh this is by uh Edwin Markham
311. 12:05and um it was told to me during a very
312. 12:08trying time I was going through while I
313. 12:09was um working at Disney and I've I've
314. 12:14I've had it along with me since and I
315. 12:15think it applies in lots of different
316. 12:17ways but for whatever reason it it
317. 12:20sticks with me so I wanted to share it
318. 12:24um for all your days be prepared and
319. 12:28meet the them ever alike when you are
320. 12:31the Anvil bear and when you are the
321. 12:34hammer
322. 12:42strike product development is
323. 12:44hard um product management is hard
324. 12:48there's a lot of stress and
325. 12:51strain and
326. 12:53knowing and paying attention
327. 12:56to what you're rolling is in any in in
328. 12:59any given
329. 13:00moment and what your action is in any
330. 13:03given
331. 13:04moment is
332. 13:06critical um in a
333. 13:09very in the in in the most direct way in
334. 13:12the meaning for this to me this had a
335. 13:13lot to do with just working through and
336. 13:15doing your best through a hard situation
337. 13:18and then when you're on the other side
338. 13:19of it or when you're in a position to
339. 13:20change things making change occur but
340. 13:24nevertheless I think in this context and
341. 13:26in product management it also deals with
342. 13:28this idea
343. 13:30of
344. 13:32just knowing where you're in a pro in
345. 13:35the project and understanding the flow
346. 13:37of development you have to this comes
347. 13:39game after game after game but having
348. 13:41some presence and perspective there and
349. 13:44knowing how you should a act knowing
350. 13:46what kind of tool you are in any given
351. 13:49moment and acting as that tool or acting
352. 13:51in that moment appropriately is critical
353. 13:54and the other part of it is work hard
354. 13:59every day work hard when things are out
355. 14:03of control work hard things when they're
356. 14:05in control work hard things when they're
357. 14:06good work hard when they're
358. 14:08bad just keep going and don't give up
359. 14:13never give up I think I think it's
360. 14:15really important so I mean I those in
361. 14:19one way or another come
362. 14:22out of what I'm doing all the time all
363. 14:26the time a little bonus one I've said
364. 14:27this a few times
365. 14:29um I spend 95% of my day trying not to
366. 14:32say what I want to say and and and you
367. 14:35know that one's just about you know
368. 14:37think and talk don't don't just talk or
369. 14:41whatever it is so anyway I hope those
370. 14:43are helpful and enjoyable thanks
371. 14:47bye