Building Better Games – Details, episodes & analysis

If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6

Are you inadvertently forcing your team to serve a tool, instead of letting your tools serve your team and game?

In a recent conversation with Clinton Keith, Ben asked how Clint would help all of game development. Clint's response? "Delete Jira" - and Ben laughed to keep from crying.

Jira is a powerful tool, but in the hands of uninformed game development leadership, it often becomes a weapon against the very teams it's meant to help. Ben, who has used Jira and other tools as a producer within large studios, dissects the common, catastrophic misuses of Jira.

While you might be better off deleting the tool, the real work is about fixing the broken cultural and organizational patterns that turn a simple work management system into the "boss" of your game studio. Learn the four cascading failure patterns that are draining your team's effectiveness and how to correct them, making collaboration and player outcomes your true north.

What You'll Learn In This Episode:

• Why senior leaders keep breaking Jira without realizing it
• How Jira causes centralization and decision bottlenecks
• What Jira DOESN'T tell you, and why that makes it dangerous
• How perverse incentives emerge from overreliance on Jira and other tools like it
• The reason you end up feeling like a slave to the tool
• How to avoid the traps Jira leads you into

Connect with us:

🔗Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/

🔗BBG's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/

🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/#

🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg

🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw

#gamedevleadership #jiraantipatterns #gamedevelopment #agilefailure #buildingbettergames

If you're a leader in game dev who feels stuck, able to spot problems but struggling to make a real difference, there is a path forward that levels up your leadership and accelerates your team, game, and career. Sign up here to learn more: https://forms.gle/nqRTUvgFrtdYuCbr6

How much is your bad code costing you, and how much is your team's suffering just a ritual of amateur theatre?

In this episode, Engineering and Agile expert Tim Ottinger and Ben challenge the core belief systems that plague software development, from the focus on individual productivity to the self-inflicted wounds of long release cycles. They break down the shocking truth about what slows software projects down, the high cost of errors in a complex system, and why doing work when it's easy is the only way to avoid the crushing complexity of doing it when it's hard.

What you'll learn in this episode:

● Why teams might refuse to change and improve the way they work

● The importance of finding problems now, rather than waiting till later

● Why "crunch time" is killing your output, not boosting it

● When to be throwing work away and when to be making things real

Bibliography:
https://www.industriallogic.com/blog/faster-and-more-predictable/

Paired Programming Illuminated by  Lori Williams and Robert Kessler:
The Goal by Eliyahu Goldratt

More about our guest:

Tim Ottinger is a legendary figure in software development, having programmed since 1979 and been active in the early days of Extreme Programming and Agile. As a Senior Consultant at Industrial Logic, co-author of Agile In A Flash and a contributor to Clean Code, Tim brings decades of practical experience to dissect what goes wrong in most software development and how you can start doing better.

Accolades and Publications:

● Co-Author: Agile In A Flash (with Jeff Langr).

● Contributor: Clean Code.

● Writing Credits: C++ Report, Object Magazine Online, Pragmatic Bookshelf magazine, Software Quality Connection.

● Recognized for: Compassionate and patient approach to working with individuals, sincerely interested in helping people reach their goals.

Social Media and Websites:

● Website (Blog): https://agileotter.blogspot.com/

● Company Blog: https://www.industriallogic.com/blog/

● Twitter/X: @tottinge.

● LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/agileotter/

● Email: tottinge@gmail.com

● Other: https://randsinrepose.com/welcome-to-rands-leadership-slack/

Connect with us:

🔗Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/

🔗BBG's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/building-better-games/

🔗Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingbettergames/#

🔗Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg

🔗YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZpMT-dUwQR-R4Mb4uub6Sw

#gamedev  #SoftwareEngineering #Agile #GameIndustry #Leadership

Setting goals is harder than you think.

In this episode, Ben Carcich is joined by Melissa Phillips, founder of Games Leadership, to dive deep into a topic that leaders often approach with little understanding: goal setting. From a professional perspective, goal setting is about helping people find fulfillment in what they are doing. Melissa discusses how goals have evolved from a basic survival need to a more complicated, individualistic pursuit.

What you'll learn in this episode:

• Why money is a terrible goal 
• The problem with only having giant goals
• The importance of celebrating small wins
• A surprisingly effective way to find your true goals
• Why communicating goals to others matters
• The reality of your changing goals

A successful game begins with better processes. This conversation is a great example of the mindset we teach at Building Better Games.

Learn more about Melissa Phillips (Founder, Games Leadership)

🔗LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melphillips1/

🔗Website: https://www.gamesleadership.com/

🔗 Games Leadership Blueprint Course
(A 12-week program helping leaders craft a sustainable and personalized leadership model.)

Connect with us:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich
• Substack: https://bencarcich.substack.com
• Website: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BuildingBetterGames

#GameDev #Leadership #ProjectManagement #CareerDevelopment #Goals

Part 2 of Managing Others! This time we're talking about accountability and advocacy. With accountability, we look at how you can set expectations within your org as a leader and someone responsible for growing others. With advocacy, we look at a crucial role a manager plays for their employee and the company. Take a listen, and let us know what you think!