Echoes of Adventure was the biggest team project I did during my master studies, and the one where I had to be the “Director” for the first time.
Why did I do this?
As with any university project, the reason why I did it will always be because I simply had to. But of course there is more depth to that.
What made this semester’s project so special is that I was supposed to lead the team as co-director alongside another person. Not really to be involved in the operational side of things. It was about creating a product vision, communicating it to the team. Lead them to success. Previously I had attended many lectures on what it means to be a team lead, how it differs from team management, how to create a product vision and communicate it to the team and much more. (Types of leaders, workflows, methodology…) And now I had to put all of that into practice.
That’s exactly what motivated me to pursue a master’s degree: to lead a team.
What did I do:
In short, leading a team from concept to pre-production, production and release.
In theory, one could describe me as a situational leader. But to be honest, I wouldn’t know how else to handle it. Leadership is incredibly adaptive, especially in stressful times when it’s really just a matter of putting out fires as they arise.
I started by finding out what the team wanted. What are their ambitions, what are their wishes, and how can the project, and accordingly my vision, best support that?
In the end I switched a lot between supporting and coaching. Giving a clear goal but offer as much support as necessary to achieve it.
Sometimes, leaving this much freedom got us into some trouble down the road. Decisions that should have been made earlier were delayed further and further. This led to a short crunching phase during the end, and also some conflict between team members and directors. Almost everyone was panicking a little about how it would still work. Everyone made plans, and everyone’s plans were thrown into disarray. In the end they did not focus on the essentials anymore.
During this time, I was primarily a mediator and a more “strict” director. I arranged meetings, laid out a plan to be followed, and calmed everyone down a bit. Basically, I just put out fires.
In the end, it worked. We have a playable and fun prototype on Steam, and we keep playing with the idea of finishing the whole project.
What did I learn?
Leadership means putting fires out. It requires a great deal of communication and, in many cases, a great deal of understanding. But at the same time, you have to keep the plan and vision in mind. Especially when things get stressful. Especially when the team wants to make cuts that might speed up the project but don’t ensure quality. But even so, you have to accept the really necessary cuts.
As I said, I couldn’t imagine choosing one leadership style and sticking to it. There is a reason why agile development has become established in game development and why waterfall not. The same applies to leadership.
All in all, it’s different from theory. You can’t prepare for it 100%. You just have to be able to make the right decisions when things get stressful. And always keep an eye on the team. Because a poor team will turn a great idea into a mediocre product. But a great team can turn a bad idea into a winner.