Management perspective- team motivation (any help, opinions)

#1 [shameless plug]My most recent .plan goes over some of the things I've tried on this topic![/shameless plug]

#2 My opinion..

spend energy looking for self motivated people and plan for turnover.

that would be me working on a project I am heading up. Projects I work on get done, with or without others. I can be a bit draconian at times..if people are not motivated and need more motivation than working on the project itself, they get left behind.

It all depends on your goals though.. are you in it for learning and experience? are you committed to getting a certain project done? Are you motivated by working with the people on your team? there is no right answer...

#3 I'm with Joe. Do not waste time on people who continually fight you. It drags you and the rest of the team down.

I'm the type of manager who just expects his team members to perform well because they want to. If they're not having fun, or if I'm not, then something is likely wrong. Each of you has to want it, and for those that don't or for those that want to do things their way, well, it might be time to part ways with them.

And I'm a big advocate of not necessarily being the guy in charge if you aren't enjoying motivating people and dealing with team management. Join up with other motivated people on someone else's project perhaps? Joe's right though - it really hinges on your goals. That's the question you have to ask yourself.

#4 It would seem hard to me to find people to work on what you want to work on. Although I agree with dave and Joe, I think it also comes down to how you are.

Are you controlling? Or are you more open to change?

I don't know the context of the agreement you have with your team.But if it is like most groups around here(work now and share the reward) it's gonna be hard to find people who want to do what you want to do.

Let's face it, we all came here because we have something that we want to make happen. Giving up that time to work on another project would have to have some good room for suggestion and or other insentives. Even if it is not here, most people learn something because they have an idea that they want to acomplish.


Thats just my opinion though

#5 Are you paying them? If not, do you really have any reason to expect them to work to a deadline? Hobbyists do gamedev because it's fun - to motivate my volunteer team I focus on making their jobs seem fun to them, and trying to draw them into my exciting vision of how cool the completed game will be. There are only a few things that will strongly motivate people - money/other rewards, fear/pain/blackmail, guilt, and idealistic rhetoric. In a volunteer project all you have are words, and using guilt/threats is distasteful and can backfire by driving teammembers away, so that only leaves rhetoric. Try making a motivational speech.

#6 @Joe and Dave

In an indie project, the only motivation is usually a promise of a share of the proceeds at the ed of the day, be that kudos points (a mention in the credits) or money. If someone is getting neither of these and you are still asking them to work to your deadlines, then you will have a major problem finding anyone who will stick with your team.

@Matthew

You can motivate your team by doing a lot of the work together i.e. face to face. Make it clear that this is a team effort and that those that contribute will be getting their 15 minutes of fame and glory. Most indies make the mistake of creating teams that are in different contries/states and as such have issues with time zones (yes england really is 6 hours ahead guys!). The sucessful indie usually finds people that are able to meet up once in a while. I have found (in all my sucessful projects) that this is essential. There is no substitute for meeting someone face to face and just yacking. It is only in doing this that you truly see if they are comitted to the work.

Also very important is that you lay out point blank what each team members stake in the project is. This is vital because if your game takes off and actually earns some money, you need to have a clear plan of how this is to be distributed. If you get a commercial contract, you need to have some structure in place to get the proceeds to the right people (including the tax man....never forget the tax man....oooohhh that tax man....gulp!)

Above all have fun. If you and your team think the game is fun, chances are others will too.

#7 I agree with the Joe and Dave, spend time on people who you can count on. One of the things I noticed you said is that "I completely trust them..." but from your post it's clear that your issue is you don't. One of the biggest pitfalls of a manager is to "buy our own bs" sometimes referred to as "eating our own marketing hype."

You're job is to sweat the schedule and even when things are going well, look at what could go wrong and be prepared (called being a cassandria). Sounds to you're doing your job in that area and you clearly have a vision that gets you up in the morning and keeps you up late at night. But if they don't share even a portion of that, they'll only bring you down. In other words, don't fall into the trap of wanting to think everythings okay and that you really trust your team, cause you don't. If your programer is arguing with you about the core technology you've choosen to use (and we know it's good tech) then he is not your guy. It's not personally, he or she just has to be on board with you or not be there.

Re: deadlines, I have to disabree with you mare. Rhetoric is rhetoric, vision is everything, if they share it, it will happen. We've been producing machinima animation with the same team for over 7 years, with only a few paid gigs here and then and though we argue at times, we're arguing about a shared vision, to make this company a succesfully one that allows us to make a living doing what we love and to put machinima on the map as a viable and powerful animation technique.

Matthew, remember that the vision for your team may not necessarly be the game itself, but what the succesful game will bring them (ie foothold into the gaming industry, recognition, etc).

#8 I might not be the right person to speak because i am one of the few that actually gets paid (paid like in real market conform hour rates) every now and than but I still think I have something to add.

Basically I am with Joe and Dave not because I share their vision and/or their experience but because I have been on the other side of the table with both of them either, direct or indirect.

I have always been self motivated because I have a great love for making art and especially for games. I like to see my self as a person who gets the job done and someone who is always looking for ways to invest in my skills. As such I have learned a lot over the years I've spent here at GG. For this I have to thank a lot of people around here but also I can take credit my self for committing as I did it is getting me where I want to be.

In my experience I rather work with a demanding project lead like Joe, who sets out deadlines and who is very clear about what he wants from me, than with someone who is working more maintaining the team. The later is bound to loose to much energy on keeping everybody happy and will end up unhappy him/her self which in the will endanger the chance of the project ever being finished.

Ask for nothing less than professionalism in your team if you ever want to get something done. Now getting this professionalism might be a different ballgame altogether. Some will have to pay for it others will find the right self motivated people to do it for free or royalties. In both cases professionalism is key to getting stuff done. If people in your team can not understand the need for working as professionals by all means ditch them they will only hold you back. Working like a pro doesn't have to mean you will have to commit 50 hours or more a week but it does mean you will have to live up to deadlines and you will have to work for the best of the team and the project. Be honest to your team. If you can't make something, admitting you can't will help the project more than saying you can but not delivering in the end. Working like a pro and with pro's does not mean you will have to dance to every thing they throw at you but it and they will demand honesty from you.

Once again it comes down to scaling your project to your/your teams abilities, don't think to big. Start small and get to know your team, get to know it's weak and strong points and/or persons. Don't try it the other way around (create a team big enough to make all your ideas come true) unless you have the experience in doing so and know all the people you need to get the job done. Believe me sometimes your better of joining an other more experienced team than keep chasing your own dreams. There is a time for everything but the time for making a full scale game with a remote team shouldn't come to early in your game developers career. I have seen experienced teams (guys with years and years of professional experience) struggle to keep their heads up and having a hard time making it and than only because they choose for a small game and had most of the people onsite or at least in the same town.

Btw this is not directly aimed at you Matthew. It is just something I have noticed a lot. People going to much for their own ego and goals trying to chase castles in the sky with all problems that follow. Most can be led back to the choice they made in the beginning. They pursue their own goal in their own way while they didn't have a clue what they where getting into, they are just way to inexperienced. If people listened to GG more (START SMALL!!) in past we would have had a lot more small fun games out by now and we surely would have had some more solid teams leading the community.

#9 @peter

I disagree. During the formative years of BraveTree, I spent a great deal of time and effort trying to motivate the unmotivated, and I learned from it. We ended up throwing out and re-doing work done by contributors because their lack of motivation often led to either sub standard work or things that were not what we wanted. I learned that with the time spent trying to motivate these people, I could just do the work myself.

I choose to stick with motivating, encouraging, and directing the self motivated. For us, the process of finding team members and partners to work on projects with has been a long process of getting to know them, finding out what makes them tick, and finding out how a good working relationship could be formed.

In the process, we have found a few individuals that have stuck with us and give us superlative work, and like working with us.

We expect professionalism, and we get it.

Those that work with us know we take our work seriously, and that we get stuff done. The releationships formed have often led to paying work or royalties for the individuals that stuck with us, so the inverstment they made in us is in some way returned.

Those that don't work out fall to the wayside, and the collective team is the better for it.

This approach may not work for everyone, but it is working for us.

A shout goes out to our self motivated associates, Brett Fattori, Pascal Bos, Damon Mitchell, Logan Foster, Justin Mette, Dave Myers, Paul Dana, Lance Bass, Weston Tracy, Rebert Brower, Danny Ngan, Dave Wyand, Dan MacDonald, Tom Bampton, and old friends now BraveTree employess John Quigley, Matt Fairfax, and Mark McCoy.

#10 I agree with Joe on this.
Negative/not-motivated people, that at times stick around only in case the rest of the team does something good and THEN they want to be part of it, will only slow your project down and ruin it for the rest of the team

If you are in a case where there is some particularly valuable head, like the good programmer you talk about, you may want to give that person more then 'one' chance, but give him/her too many chances and your project won't go anywhere. Especially if other team members depend on him to get things into the game, then you may be better off with a less experienced programmer with plenty of enthusiasm and belief in the project than a more experienced programmer that just won't do it for you.

The more a negative element stays in the team the more of a negative effect he will have on the other team members. Especially for indie projects, where team members' attention span may be very small, I would say that you are right in having strong and challenging deadlines. It helps to keep people focused with less chances to get into "I'll do it tomorrow kind of attitude". Plus the more people in your team stick to deadlines, the more motivated the other more laizy mambers will be. Getting things done help to increase belief and results, it is like a chain/loop; the more you get done, the more you get done... the less you get done, the less you get done :)

It is hard work, but with the right people in the team, it can be fun. Hard to find good people, but you will be better off without the bad ones:)

#11 Thanks for all the advice, very much appreciated... guess I'll give a few more details

We all go to college together as well (have known eachother for about 2 years or so)... we also have worked on minor things together before (we are very dedicated to our team), this is the first game project on a deadline though...

its a T2D project on a 3 month deadline... Not a simple game (an RPG) though I have no doubt we can do it... we all talked about where we were going with this and it came down to us all agreeing on it.

A programmer in the team is struggling switching from other tools to T2D tools (mainly because of fears etc)... He normally is a very motivated and extremely brilliant programmer, he has some very serious self doubt issues (though we all do at times)... so I know he can more than do this, just needs to break past his fears.

the others seem to be taking it fine, though I'm not seeing that they are motivated on it.

I definately do trust them, would trust them with my life, but I think I know where a lot of you are going at and I agree (about not keeping dead weight)... I don't see them working on things, thinking about things, or even talking about things... at least at this point...

I am comfortable in a leadership position, sometimes I can get a bit harsh with keeping to work when you commit to it, but overall I'm a fairly cheery guy also.

One thing I think I need to do is help motivate the project some more, start asking questions each day, etc (we see eachother on a daily basis)

The motivation to make the game is their, but we're also just stepping into this and I think I didn't take that into account. I have fears, but I don't let it stop me, I let them drive me to work harder... they seem to react a bit differently.

I am finishing up a project plan, trying to break down the milestones and weekly work (since its on a 3 month scale I'd assume weekly work seems appropriate?) and plan to try and help keep everyone accomplishing it... I think once we get started and see it coming along it will get easier, then again I don't want to be a dictator lol...

I guess right now I need to do something you said in one of your posts on this board (Joe)... is keep myself very motivated, in a happy way, and let it trickle down to them, because I can see they want to do this, they can do this, just they are a bit overwhelmed with the start... guess thats where I can break it down into weekly tasks since its easier for me to see the whole picture.


again thx for all the advice, I'll take any advice I can get, this will be our first "published" game (in some form or another)

#12 Weekly realistic milestones yes.
As you said, keep positive and contaminate your team with positiviness, cheered up attitude and drive. This works much better than harshness :)

Good luck

#13 @Peter: Perhaps you're not aware of what Joe and I have each accomplished, but suffice to say we are well aware of the trials and tribulations of shipping something under these types of circumstances. It is tough to find and keep people, but it can be done.


@Matthew: I'd refer you to this .plan I wrote not too long ago. I firmly believe in what I wrote there.

#14 Matthew

Dont fight whis such persons (your team member), just dismiss him and thats all.
I recommend you this book Erik Bethke "Game Development and Production".

#15 Matthew,

keeping your motivation high and the vision clear is the best thing to do. When I am working on a game, I have a pretty clear vision of what I am creating, and I do my best to make this vision available to all so they can share in it. They can either choose to share the vision, or not share it.

the particulars of how to keep people motivated could fill a small book.. I have found that each person is different.. Some like to stay in their comfort zone, some need to be pushed outside of it in order to do good work.. it really depends on getting to know the person.

I wish you luck.. and I commend you for asking the question. Too many people will keep it all to themselves, and realizing that you cannot do it alone is good thing. There are good resources here available to you so that you can learn, and I am stoked that you are taking the time to take advantage of them in order to gain insight on one of the many 'soft' skills one needs to learn to see a project through until the end.

#16 Matt,

It seems like your programmer friend needs to "buy" into the technology before he uses it. If you can quickly make a small, flashy demo yourself, then show it to him, saying "Look what I made yesterday. It took only 2 hours ...", that should be enough for him to gain confidence in it, and to motivate him to learn and work quickly.

#17 Thanks everyone for all the advice and support. Things have been going better. I let things calm down a bit and had a person act somwhat as a "mediator" so things could be asked of him in a non threatening way... Also noticed a huge difference when I talked with him and told him it honestly was very hard to help him when he reacted the way he did... honesty is the best policy. I just needed to work myself down a bit and be sincere and honest with him.

Our project is back on track, motivation has rissen some, though still needs more, but it seems I can help keep it rising :)

btw @ "Laser" you were right... I used T2D for my GID and showed him it, unintentionally I think it made him reconsider T2D.

@Joe: thx, I like a lot of your perspectives on simliar topics (that I've seen in the past) and I think I just need to be careful how I respond to him and try and keep him motivated in his own way.

again thanks everyone, I still have plenty more to learn about keeping a team motivated, though things are moving along at a better pace and everyone seems to be much more motivated... at this point I think we just need to get some visible results done to up the level even more.

#18 Sorry if I'm getting into the conversation late, but I thought it was an interesting thread...

"spend energy looking for self motivated people and plan for turnover."

Exactly my response...that and lead by example. If you're busting your ass on the project and your teammates see that, odds are they'll pick it up as well. That said, planning for turnover is the best thing you can do to stave off the frequent problems that plague indie projects.

#19 Hello Matthew!

Well, I manage a team too, though things are a slightly different. Audio projects need much less time than a game project to be completed, so having more projects, and more people coming in and out, contributing, or just performing a groove, drink a coffee together, and so on... all of these factors assure a very positive mood in the air.

I always say that my studio is like a pub, many people come, many people go... but this is good since we don't have time to quarrel :) and also we don't have the "frustration" (sorry, if the term is offensive I change it) of long long long ETA projects like a videogame one.

But I had a problem in the past with a professional who didn't perform exactly as I requested him. Let's say that he was a very creative one :) and trying to overtook my leadership. I just kicked him out without saying anything... :D lol

The problem is that in a team there must be only a general. Consider it like an army. More generals, more disorganization. The composer, or the lead composer, in a team, is the general, like are you in the team.

You don't only manage, but you give everyone the right direction to create a common vision, and this vision (like an orchestral ensemble in the mind of a director) becomes reality only if everyone follows you and thinks like you.

I know it's strange to say "thinks like you", but it's important and I don't want to be hypocritical.

A team must be made of people that have same goals and procedures.

I'm sorry if my english is cryptic, but it's the best way I translated my italian thoughts.