It’s really interesting how the role of a game producer it’s confusing to so many people. It’s a role that has been in the game industry for years, however, every time I ask a new employee if he or she’d like an introduction to the role, they really appreciate having it.
What I’ll share here are just my personal views, which have been contrasted with many peers from the profession over the years. I’ll be happy to get any additional insights in the comments 🙂
What does a game producer, really?
Product Managers define the product that needs to be built, engineers craft the solution to meet the expectations, what does a game producer in this equation? what is the tangible outcome? In my eyes, the overall team.
Let’s go down to the basics, let’s say you are three people team and want to create a game, do you really need a producer? yes and no. What you really need is a way to fulfil the hands-on roles: product manager, game designer, game artist (here we can include concept artist, 2D artist, animation, etc.) and of course programmers and testers, all together will in the end be the ultimate responsibles for crafting the software, however, as the family grows, you might experience inefficiencies in the overall system, and here is where a role of a game producer can come really useful.
Is the primary job of a producer to build a highly effective team. As said before we already have team members focused on the WHAT, others focused on the HOW, is your responsibility as producer to make sure these two worlds merge effectively and the resulting combination turns out a high-performant system, able to deliver qualitative product increments in a fast pace of work. That’s why here I talk about a ‘how’ at an overall level that involves many other crafts.
The primary job of a producer is to build a highly effective team
If you stop to think, what is really the difference between a tech producer, feature producer and let’s say a cross-team game producer? in the end they all share the same goal, which is to keep the team unblocked and productive as close to 100% of the time as we can, working on the highest priority items they can work on with all the information and context they need in order to do so.
And yes, this also means that the role of a Scrum Master or an Agile Coach aren’t at all that different from a game producer. From my point of view they all have very different contexts, and, at the same time, they all share the ultimate same goal.
What is the difference between a good game producer and a great game producer?
A good game producer will remove impediments for the team, ensure we are working on the top priority items and support in case there are any conflicts within the team. A great game producer, on the other hand, will think out of the box and enable the team to flourish and reach its unique highest potential. This means that it will continuously challenge the ways of working, also him or herself, actively listening to ‘what is trying to happen’ and putting the team in the center of everything he/she does.
A great producer will remove dependencies by setting autonomous and mature development pipelines, by doing so, he or she will also be also making himself/herself non-essential in the process. Paradoxically, the team’s ability to operate and improve without a major involvement from the game producer is in fact one of the best KPIs that will distinguish a good producer from a great producer.
Does it mean we have to delegate all work to the teams? Not really, what I am saying is that’s the target state, a great producer will be able to determine its degree of involvement based on the team current status and will have ability to gradually transition towards a more autonomous structure as it makes sense to the team. This is the reason why the top priority of a producer when landing a new job is always to observe and ‘meet the team where it is’.
bUT WAIT A MINUTE, ISN’T THE PRODUCER ROLE TO HELP THE TEAM PRODUCE MORE? SHOULDN’T IT SOMEWHAT RESULT ORIENTED?
Indeed, it’s the producer’s job to continuously help the team deliver more, which is usually measured through team’s velocity. If the team velocity increases it’s an indicator that your team is increasing delivery over time, at the same time we need to be very careful on how we use that indicator, otherwise it might bias behaviours at many levels of the organization unintentionally. Judging a team by its velocity could be somewhat similar to judging a book by it’s cover, it’s an indicator, and as such, it’s needs to be used wisely, for instance as starting point for raising questions to the team so that new information can come out.
Judging a team by its velocity it’s like judging a book by it’s cover
Faster delivery doesn’t necessarily mean you have a great ‘machine’ to operate, but having a great ‘machine’ to operate will increase the chances to deliver faster. This is the reason why I set the focus on ‘having the machine right’ in the first place.
OKAY SO, WhAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN AGILE COACH AND A GAME PRODUCER?
Historically the role of a game producer has been described as ‘ninja’, abstract as such is not a good sign. The video game sector has not stood out by it’s ability to create a sense of order and alignment, all the opposite, what we found most of the times was fuelled-in passionate teams with no clear direction or sense of alignment, abandoned to the fate of working countless hours in the so famous ‘crunches’ in video-games. The role of that ‘ninja’ was in most of the cases lost in the operational level, running an active part in managing backlogs and leading the team, rather than being strategic from the very beginning.
Over the years the role of the game producer has received the influence of the agile movement, systemic coaching and management 3.0 principles which somehow enriched the role and helped it find its place into the big picture. The role of a game producer has being organically transitioning from an ‘active role’ to a ‘lead by example’ role with greater levels of delegation.
As I was pointing out earlier the difference is pretty much based on the context. While an agile coach is someone usually hired to act as consultant with a very specific purpose, a game producer it’s usually part of the team, hence it’s ability to influence and detect opportunities to move the team forward will be critical. Furthermore, a game producer will normally possess a specific background on the games industry, has good knowledge of the places where the project can go side-ways and will also be able to go deep into the pipeline processes to make them better, which might take a long while for someone unfamiliar with the context of crafting games. Last but not least, a game producer requires an understanding on the creative disciplines and might also get involved in project budgeting, live operations, and many other product areas.
Isn’t the game producer some kind of project manager?
Isn’t cyan color blue at some point? being a project manager is just one or the multiple hats a producer must wear, which by the way can be worn in many ways, and won’t definitely define you. As we have seen previously there are many aspects related to processes, team and product management that are far beyond the concept of project manager.
The way to manage ‘project manager’ responsibilities within the team will differ from one producer to another, also depending on the levels of unpredictability a company is able or willing to handle.
THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF A GAME PRODUCER
Although ultimately a producer will be judged by the team’s ability to deliver, there are many other responsibilities on the way, from forming strategies and communicating them, through motivating teams and individuals, to managing stakeholders expectations. This means the producer will be heavily involved in coordination, game design support and milestone planning.
Depending on the case, a producer might also be in charge of budgeting and resource allocation. Ensuring an efficient team’s allocation within the financial constraints will be key to set a baseline for success.
Last but not least, the producer will be in charge of setting the right processes in place. Creating the structures to enable the desired levels of alignment, focus and collaboration it’s ultimately a producer’s responsibility.
WRAPPING UP
As you’ve seen this is indeed a complex topic as there are multiple dimensions to consider plus it has being varying subtly over time. Hopefully the descriptions above gave you a greater idea on what’s expected from this role. Please do not hesitate to drop any questions or comments. Thanks for your time!
(header image by http://www.freevector.com)
Xavier Figueras 