Building Bridges Instead of Silos - Celine Pasula, Ubisoft RedLynx

[Music] [Music] [Music] our next speaker uh the next one is Building Bridges instead of silos leaders roles in enabling a crossplatform future and your speaker is Saleem Hil Ubisoft red Linux good afternoon everyone of course super happy to be here at the BTC London today sorry my my my uh voice is kind of bit low

today so I had a kind of bit flu last week but I hope you can hear me well so um just to let uh let just to get started so I want to say that I'm really thrilled to be here today to see a lot of you like passionate game developers like myself so really amazing and also I'm really excited about the energy I have been feeling today in this event really nice to see people are excited and and talking about the relevant things so also of course huge congratulations for the organizers for actually making this event happen once again so one of my favorite events for sure but let's continue the topic itself but um before we go to it I would like to do a tiny introduction about myself because as a mission as a leader I see it's important that we actually know a bit who's talking about the things and that's way to be build the

trust but um I won't dive too deep into it but uh some some basic things it's also sets the ground for the topic I'm talking about because I think that also helps you to understand my through my background so before I uh joined the world of PC and console games I was fully working on the on the mobile side for 15 years focus on the on the early days of the mobile which was quite different back then what it is today so uh that was before the Apple had a up St up store or before actually we had the whole freet toplay model so it has been constant change ever ever since and I think that's how it's going to look look like also in the future um but I'm also quite excited and and about the like the industry what I saw back then and what I see even more today the way we are able to actually reach the audiences the big audiences all over the world and connecting them and and

really creating these amazing experiences because that's all about what we want to build here and also like how games are really important piece of entertainment for many also from the production side of course I have seen many different companies so I have seen the companies from the startup phase that was eight years of my life then going to be part of the wider organization and running a private company which I think has prepared me really well for my current role as a managing director for Ubisoft red links what has been really excited is of course 15 years of mobile now I get to work with the PC and console development also which is really great to have all that under the same roof so my mission today here is actually more to bring in all these fields together and making sure that they actually work together and we we break all the silos it between the teams and the and the each individual it's really really about

unlocking the full potential of our teams and I have to say I'm quite excited more than ever actually what I see happening so that's about myself and my background but why are we here today I don't mean of course today in London but uh enjoying this wonderful event but industry in general if um and I'm not I'm talking about the purpose why we do this why are we working in the in the gaming industry if I went around this room I'm sure I would get quite many different ANS answers for many of you it might be about passion for games being able to create innov create really amazing experiences for our players but also innovate Innovation and creativity and then of course the amazing talent that we get to work with all over the world and then really creating those communities around the players and making sure that they connect with the people that maybe they wouldn't otherwise connect with and it doesn't matter what is the genre or the platform

it doesn't matter is it the first person shoulders act on rpcs or simulators or puzzles or the take behind that makes it all happen I think it's all about like us being able to create those impactful experiences for our players across the globe of course and connecting those people in a way it's more like bringing more joy to the people wherever they are so I believe I believe that my purpose here comes to that just to be a sour of joy and really being able to create these amazing experiences for the players throughout our phones computers or or consoles it's not the point but this is where the cross platform really comes along and this is going to be uh the session all about the session today how we actually Le the chain and make sure that there's a purpose and how is it connected with the vision I'm approaching this today through the three different topics three different points actually so one first

one is all about breaking silos around the experience itself so really the opportunities to cross platform as a barrier breaker number two breaking silos Around The Guiding Vision making sure that we are uh having Clear Vision and strategy and as us as a leader supporting that and making sure that all the disciplines and teams are actually collaborating together then number three breaking sience on the teamw learning and Innovation so how do we actually make it happen in a daily daily work uh at our Studios so let's dive in the first one I think the first question is that if you think about the crossplatform I'm pretty sure all of us has quite different view on it and I I need to explain a bit my view so how I see the gaming industry is constantly evolving and we know we need to stay ahead of the curve and I'm sure this this is familiar to you all but I

think this is also what makes it super interesting we all have our facts and Views but how do how could we make sure that we collaborate on the basis of these these all views and that's about of course that we want we value that diversity on the views and and respect that but when we discuss the day-to-day experiences with the game we might often talk about the cross pay or ensuring our progression follows one platform to another one or then the devices itself we might talk about the uh which G which platforms game is available on and so on and as we know we recently are getting really nice experience on the mobile also with are AAA level and that's really exciting development for sure and of course the takech all behind it to making it all happen is critical and suddenly we are actually able to reach the new audiences again and when looking at the cross uh cross platform

as a bigger phenomenon in the industry it's not just about the devices itself actually and this is where our views might get tiny bit diversed from each other I really think the big picture is about embracing the diversity in a player preferences Styles and experiences and it's all about how we can bring more joy for those players and also reach the audiences that we haven't reached before and then of course overall the appro how we approach uh and people are able to connect with the certain games when they actually become more available through our different devices and again of course we need to take to empower all that and I think it also empowers people to connect over the different devices and turn the widening communities forming out the experienes created by our industry as we know there are silos within the gaming industry as well

and perhaps by breaking down those barriers we can be a bit more united than before actually what's encouraging though is the numbers we are actually seeing on the crossplay and crossplatform studies actually sucest that increasing num of players already mix different platforms mobile PC and console all of them and I think this is really a solid foundation to build into but I really think the key is also to really understand the audience we are going after and how we support that as the industry itself then the second one crossplatform leadership I think there's multiple ways to be View crossplatform and its different elements some may approach it from technical point of view some underlining the social aspect of the game which is all all really critical and then impact quite a lot how we are able to crash the opportunities as the Developers also we are often as diverse in opinions

as we are as a people but if our teams don't share the same Foundation or the vision how we do this and how we how do we actually expect to work all together when I say crossplatform gaming provides even more diverse audiences and players around the world the opportunities to enjoy our experience no matter what is the device and that throughout crossplatform we can ensure we are where the players are actually but then following more work ensuring experiences and quality are up to Bar what they are expecting some may not look at this from the same point of view and this is once again something we should celebrate as a leaders to have that diversity of you and we know about the diversity it really requires more effort to actually make that happen and this is where we need more communication and something I really hope you all actually take away from

this session while we actually may think that we have a different purposes and we have a different systems for creating meanings for things we should all work towards the same shared Vision this means that we should be celebrating our differences but not really allowing it that turn against each other into silos which is all what we have to break and this is all on not leaders this is our job to making sure that we actually work together and we keep breaking those silos and then the third Point psychological work safety as a base so how do we actually make this happen what I have personally seen during my time in the industry is that traditionally the defense side of crossplatform PC console and mobile have been very separate from each other and it's and the challenge Tru is to find the midle crown bringing all the best side of these worlds and making sure

that they work together and this is I think it's clear to all creating the environment that supports crossplatform development requires collaboration a whole new level and making sure that actually those silos are broken it's not just about developers working together it's about fostering to culture where ideas expertise learnings and Innovation flow freely across the discipline a Leader's role is to really Ensure that our teams are led by the shared vision and are able to push the p is uh above the current norms and we know where there are new opportunities grabs there's also a lot of challenges to face as well and what one of these challenges is definitely Justice developing our teams but still keeping our players at the heart of our effort and focusing there it doesn't matter how much we develop or what platforms we are able to provide the experience is on if this is not what

the players actually truly want or the experience isn't actually tailored for them these challenges are something we should see as possibilities to test learn and innovate as a team but really making sure this is possible we need to make sure that people feel safe I always refer to biology at this stage as it explains quite a lot how we act uh and think also at work in many fields you talk about work safety which is quite basic some have lately started talking also about the psychological safety for me I really would like to take it step further for our industry I think it comes down to psychological work safety since the environment we are working at it's it's quite different when we talk about the work environment as the context is very different work environment are not the same as the element of our other parts

of our life this is something we need to understand in order to Foster The Working environments where people feel psychologically safe and they are making they are able to really make those tough decisions and really make sure that they actually learning from what they are doing as we want to our people to raise for the crossplatform future they really need to feel that psychological safety building a crossplatform future requires psychological safety net allowing individuals to try up try up speak up sued diverse opinions and collaborate across disciplines and this is where the leaders M main priority should be for all the companies and if you really think about it I would challenge the way we think about the organizations as well because how easy it is to promote crossplatform learnings and sharings between the disciplines if your organization is only focused on PC or console or mobile perhaps in the future we want to really

think about how we are building the future uh the teams from the beginning in the future so the main learnings what I have seen is first of course breaking silence around the experience itself it's worth it whe whether we're talking about PC console and mobile there's so many great experiences we have created as a industry so why shouldn't we aim for the one step higher actually and Ure even more people get to ins the experiences that we are creating no matter what is the devices they might have hold on to and I think this is actually quite inspiring call but not so easy to make it actually happen so breaking sirons are the vision also now that we are hopefully all inspired the teams are really excited about this but how do we actually make sure that other other teams and people are also excited how do we make sure that we Empower them and they are actually able to work towards

the shared goals it's important to understand that to be able to do this everyone must have the same understanding way how the way we are moving forward so as a leaders I would say three words communicate communicate and communicate once more only by providing the enough vision and actionable guidance towards the shared goal I think we can actually make it happen and this is I think concrete way to even hopeing to realize how to build the truly crossplatform future then number three breaking silence around the teamwork learning and Innovation now that everybody are hopefully inspired and actually have a common understanding of the shared goal how does it look every day in action one of my key learnings is that sift will not likely happen overnight you have to really make your effort and make sure that we that communication is truly happening the power of crossplatform things can only grow on the whole healthy foundation of the psychological

safety in our teams and that psychological work safety what we want to focus on because without it we can't even hope to see the new ideas from the people and really this out of the box thinking it's also takes leadership to actually move this Vision to the practicalities so you need to be prepared to do the work and of course not to be afraid to test either fail or succeed and learn from it and making sure you don't do the same mistakes again and I think if we are able to take this mindset and as a separate entities without shared industry to embody that crossplatform mindset and really keep breaking those silos between all these platforms I think we are well on our way towards the more connected future than ever before so thank you if you had any questions happy to answer

do we have any questions