Beyond the Technical: People Skills
by Demolishun · 08/01/2012 (11:56 pm) · 2 comments
I have had the privilege to associate with some of the top leadership gurus in the world (I said leaders, not politicians). One thing that has been a common theme with these gurus is that they have excellent people skills. As a business owner I deal with difficult people everyday. So if I am to be successful I need to learn to work with people. As an indie developer this is particularly true. There are not PR people to handle the particulars of working with people outside or inside the company. It often is up to you to make the situation better.
Some history of why this is so important to me. I had never had any people skills training as I worked my way through college and began my professional career as an electrical engineer. This is not surprising as engineers are generally frowned upon if they have a personality. Well, not knowing this I made all sorts of blunders in my career with various organizations that I worked for. One notable event occurred when I was discussing a project with the project manager. He has a mechanical engineering background. During the meeting with the project manager, myself, and another electrical engineer the project manager said, "Frank, I just don't understand what you and Matt do." My flippant response was, "And we endeavor to keep it that way." Yes, funny at the time for me, but it did not sit well with the project manager. This colored events that occurred later. As I have reflected back on my career I believe it may have limited my options for advancement.
What does this have to do with game development? Everything. If you cannot efficiently and in a environment of trust communicate with various stakeholders and/or customers then you will be in trouble. Or worse yet the game you dreamed up may NEVER come to fruition. This applies to any business. That is why people skills are of utmost importance.
The good news is that everyone can acquire better people skills. I have had the privilege of mentoring with some really sharp people. They have suggested people skills books and audios that have greatly improved my effectiveness to communicate with people. These skills have helped me found a robotics company and a programming consultant business. I have also found that people who have better people skills are more successful in whatever business they are in. So I am going to pass that torch on to people here. Periodically as I continue to grow my own people skills I will chime in on my insights and experiences. Call them book reviews if you will.
To start I am going to suggest 5 books that my mentors suggest I reread once a year. You heard that right. Reread all 5 once every year in addition to any other books. This is due to the annoying fact that we tend to forget things. I did not believe this until I reread one the books I had read 2 years earlier and experienced a lot of deja vu. I could have sworn I had not read the book before!
So to start you off here are the titles:
My personal favorite is the Magic of Thinking Big. It really can make dealing with difficult people a breeze. It also helps keep my personality in check and not run over or belittle people through sarcastic remarks. That is a weakness I am learning to overcome. This book also helped me realize that when I am working with difficult people, they are often difficult because I am working with them. Sometimes introspection can hurt your ego. :)
Some history of why this is so important to me. I had never had any people skills training as I worked my way through college and began my professional career as an electrical engineer. This is not surprising as engineers are generally frowned upon if they have a personality. Well, not knowing this I made all sorts of blunders in my career with various organizations that I worked for. One notable event occurred when I was discussing a project with the project manager. He has a mechanical engineering background. During the meeting with the project manager, myself, and another electrical engineer the project manager said, "Frank, I just don't understand what you and Matt do." My flippant response was, "And we endeavor to keep it that way." Yes, funny at the time for me, but it did not sit well with the project manager. This colored events that occurred later. As I have reflected back on my career I believe it may have limited my options for advancement.
What does this have to do with game development? Everything. If you cannot efficiently and in a environment of trust communicate with various stakeholders and/or customers then you will be in trouble. Or worse yet the game you dreamed up may NEVER come to fruition. This applies to any business. That is why people skills are of utmost importance.
The good news is that everyone can acquire better people skills. I have had the privilege of mentoring with some really sharp people. They have suggested people skills books and audios that have greatly improved my effectiveness to communicate with people. These skills have helped me found a robotics company and a programming consultant business. I have also found that people who have better people skills are more successful in whatever business they are in. So I am going to pass that torch on to people here. Periodically as I continue to grow my own people skills I will chime in on my insights and experiences. Call them book reviews if you will.
To start I am going to suggest 5 books that my mentors suggest I reread once a year. You heard that right. Reread all 5 once every year in addition to any other books. This is due to the annoying fact that we tend to forget things. I did not believe this until I reread one the books I had read 2 years earlier and experienced a lot of deja vu. I could have sworn I had not read the book before!
So to start you off here are the titles:
- How I Raised Myself from Failure to Success in Selling by Frank Bettger
- How to Have Confidence and Power in Dealing with People by Les Giblin
- How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie
- Magic of Thinking Big, The by David J. Schwartz, Ph.D
- Personality Plus by Florence Littauer
My personal favorite is the Magic of Thinking Big. It really can make dealing with difficult people a breeze. It also helps keep my personality in check and not run over or belittle people through sarcastic remarks. That is a weakness I am learning to overcome. This book also helped me realize that when I am working with difficult people, they are often difficult because I am working with them. Sometimes introspection can hurt your ego. :)
About the author
I love programming, I love programming things that go click, whirr, boom. For organized T3D Links visit: http://demolishun.com/?page_id=67
#2
Communication, and specifically effective/efficient communication is central to the smooth operation of any project development team. In any industry. This is law folks. Your product will be only as good as you can communicate it to your team. If your people skills are down, and you don't appoint someone to take the reins here, your project will suffer.
The books Frank mentioned, while not to my personal taste, are very good at teaching the reader how to listen, and how to ask questions. Those are probably two of the most effective communication skills anyone could hope to develop. The good news is that they (communication skills) can be learned, and they can be mastered. Just listening and asking questions can turn an average communicator into the driving force of your project. For the cost of those books, is it really worth the saving by not buying them? I'd say no.
There is so much one can learn about oneself when learning how to listen and ask pertinent questions. That's reason enough for me to learn. Then I have the bonus of developing an effective (and highly employable) skill that I can offer my team. And that benefits everyone.
Thanks for posting this, Frank. Not enough of this stuff around I find. Cheers.
08/05/2012 (8:14 pm)
I've been loitering in the lobby, wanting to come in and say something here, but it's a gigantic issue and I don't want to diminish this with an off-hand remark or some such triviality.Communication, and specifically effective/efficient communication is central to the smooth operation of any project development team. In any industry. This is law folks. Your product will be only as good as you can communicate it to your team. If your people skills are down, and you don't appoint someone to take the reins here, your project will suffer.
The books Frank mentioned, while not to my personal taste, are very good at teaching the reader how to listen, and how to ask questions. Those are probably two of the most effective communication skills anyone could hope to develop. The good news is that they (communication skills) can be learned, and they can be mastered. Just listening and asking questions can turn an average communicator into the driving force of your project. For the cost of those books, is it really worth the saving by not buying them? I'd say no.
There is so much one can learn about oneself when learning how to listen and ask pertinent questions. That's reason enough for me to learn. Then I have the bonus of developing an effective (and highly employable) skill that I can offer my team. And that benefits everyone.
Thanks for posting this, Frank. Not enough of this stuff around I find. Cheers.
Torque 3D Owner Dexter Chow
GarageGames
@Frank
I think this is a great topic for developers. Communication is a challenge for any team, but I find it is especially challenging in software development. Most teams I've been involved with are a mix of veterans and new talent. I think it is important for all to think about the communication and processes to best capture all the team members ideas and opinions. Easier said than done, but this is a step in the right direction. Thanks!