Surviving Your First Steps into the Management Journey

[Music] hello everyone thank you for coming thank you for choosing this talk uh I know there's so many amazing talks to choose from so it's an honor that you chosen this one I guess if you're are here maybe you are planning to be a manager or you are taking your first steps or you are just plainly interested in know how this works so hopefully we can answer this today um ideally we should be aware that this is a very young industry and we are still learning how these things work we're figuring things out if you pay attention the way we do things we have inherited so much from Cinema or from software development and other Industries so we're taking some things and we're changing them to suit us but we're still evolving and learning also we're so tied to technology that it really emphasizes for a open mind and an open approach so

hopefully we can learn and exchange today about those things and hopefully we can reach out you can reach out to me and we can talk about these things if this talk exists is because I want to share what I learned in my first years in management what I learned from other people and what I've seen from other statistics uh so putting all those three things together what we can learn and hopefully prevent some mistakes uh I'll tell you a little bit about my myself really quickly I'm Mark I'm a leite animator at La 42 games which is part of the Sumo group you'll find lots of amazing sum group people in at GTC and originally I didn't do animation I started uh business I went there and I quickly realized that wasn't for me it was very gr and D at least the way they were doing those things and so I went to what I really like which is Cinema I went to cinema I started Cinema and then I found out about animation and then I realized

that I could make games which is what I truly like and that leads me in this interesting spot where I really like the management side of business and I really like the animation and the art and video games so hopefully we can put those two things together and find out some interesting things I want to begin this with a quote of a friend of mine uh she is in Human Resources let me show you this first I like using and it will be quite useful for us we'll be using some memes because they uh emphasize they summarize a very complex thing in an image very straightforward so as we can see our cat friend here uh he used to be a great coder and he's been dragged into that management promotion and now he's just stuck being doing meetings interviews discussions Etc so he can't code anymore that's a what that's one thing that happens in the industry and that's why hopefully we

can talk later because maybe you've been through that or you know someone who's been through that so let me quote my friend she is from Human Resources uh she doesn't do any video game development and she used to be in know the industries and she joined the video game industry like a year ago so it was a very interesting perspective and we were talking about what we do think what we do right and what we do wrong and she said one very interesting thing and she said the most common mistake in this industry is skilled individuals put into management roles so we have this believe this thing that we just do in the industry that's dragging like or po frame here dragged into a management position just because he is's a very skilled individual it can be code it can be 3D animation it can be Tod art it can be anything but we have this tradition this thing of dragging those people and maybe they are not in the right place and maybe they don't feel comfortable um so that was a very interesting T from an outside of our industry uh we need to

understand that it's two different set of skills being a coder or being a manager is two different things and it requires two completely different things and you can see also you may know great managers that probably they are not that great uh 3D artists or 3D animators or designers uh but they are great managers so they have that skill and we'll see we'll talk about that we'll talk about the communication how important it is and those key skills that we need so now is a clickbait monument that I say and I say if you are a manager or you're planning to be a manager you are probably going to regret it you can say click here to find out why and I'll tell you now there's this very interesting uh survey that the workforce Institute did last year maybe you read it maybe you heard about it through the talk uh they let me quote they found out that 47% of middle managers are likely

to quit this 2023 because of stress related reasons of course this was last year and we going to observe two important things here in this survey so it says 47% 47% is huge is half of it so that means that we're doing something clearly wrong and also it says for a stress related reasons and nowadays we we need to understand that beliefs likes and the society as a whole changes and we need to adapt with that and probably 30 years ago uh mental well-being or well-being in general wasn't so important but now through this uh survey we found out that people appreciate that and they value that and they rather have less pay in a less in a role with less responsibility that at least they preserve their mental well-being and their mental health and we are struggling to keep up with that new likely new way of saying

things okay um before we dive into exactly what is part of that 47% how to prevent being part of that 47% I want to talk about is a manager what is a manager taking those first steps what is a middle manager in this case and to do that because it's a very gray area we don't really know uh you've been there probably you know someone maybe you're doing a little bit of uh you continue doing design you are doing some documentation they doing interviews you are leading a team where is very great we don't know how much you're supposed to do maybe you're not doing uh any let's say 3D work at all so let's see what the dictionary says so so we are all in the same page and I went to the Oxford di dictionary and he says a manager a middle manager is a manager who is in charge of a small group of people or a

small Department within the business organization and it goes on to say compare with top Executives middle managers are likely to have more time to interact with their employees and that's the blessing we have in those uh three steps that we are taking is that we have the opportunity to interact more with the employees and we have a closer approach than top Executives to to the business organization to the team to the to the project we're working on and we we are very lucky to be able to do that now you will see that communication is crucial but let's dive into that 47% what happens why where does that come from so from as I said before from surveys with uh exchanging with friends uh with colleagues with other professionals and probably I bother some of you here to see how was your experience we I I narrow to three main

things and you can also consult that with the workforce Institute three main things that are the cause of that 47% there are many there are as many as people in this room but one of the main ones is this thing that we do in the industry now this is the wearing to hats that I call is something that is not wrong in the in this Essence it's the fact like we saw the cat in our previous slide in the first one which is when we do two things at the same time for instance I'm a 3D animator I continue doing animations while I start taking care of some management responsibilities and that has positives that's that's the way we've been doing and has a clear strength for instance that we can stay closer to the team we know exactly what is going on what pipeline are we using what software are using any problems any blockers and we have that middle management position that we saw before in the dictionary

that we can actually interact and we have a a closer knowledge of what's going on and that's great that's a good thing we wearing one hat but then we're wearing the other hat so let's say we are a three the character artist and we are creating 100 characters a day like super prolific and now we are starting taking some management responsibilities and that's the great area that we were talking about before when it comes to management we maybe are doing some interviews as I said before then we are hiring someone and we doing some mentorship like telling them how to do things how our Pelin work and then we are doing some documentation for these new people and then at the same time we continue to do those 100 assets a day and you can clearly see how this can end that wrong um the big problem with this is It's doable you can do it you can continue to

create those 100 assets a day while uh continue with your new tasks it's possible and that's the main risk because you can do it but the question is for long for how long can you do it how long can you keep up and that's when we see that 47% of people who this is a very sneaky issue that we find uh before you know it you are overwhelmed and turnor between two words like this Bo friend That's a classic thing that happens and the other thing since we were talking about this very gray area in the management side is that you will be doing a few interviews three four how long is that going to take okay it may take 30 minutes but then you need some time to evalue those candidates and to exchange with other people that may be interested how long is that going to take is that going to be half an hour it's going to be an hour it's going to be one meeting two meetings three meetings so quickly it can balloon and it can overwhelm you and it can take over and especially if you continue to

perform as you were performing before with those 100 assets a day let's say in this case I usually find that the worst enemy is yourself that you struggle to realize that you are doing two things at the same time and you should understand that is too much so the burnout burnout is a key element next this this is a stigma uh belief that we have in the industry uh something that has become natural is an assumption that we have the career progression for skill individuals as we saw before means a management role or going to some management responsibilities and Leadership and probably that shouldn't be the case we're seeing some probably big studios realizing that that's uh not correct but

we have this belief that because you are very good at what you do code 3D animation design production it's a natural progression to become uh take care some of some management responsibilities and I've seen some brave people the way to prevent this is being very assertive and very clear that they don't want to do that and they just want to continue doing what they're really good at so you see the thing that we have this belief this natural progression and we are removing the really skilled people from what they do best and from what they want to do you seen uh and probably you know someone or you've been through that that you were very happy ASO cat at the very beginning of the presentation that he was very happily coding he is the best coder and they being dragged away just because that's the natural progression so at least some companies are waking up we see at suumo we have some other paths or

some companies that just continue you can continue to be a senior you don't really need to progress into a lead or some other uh management positions but it's a very very very sad thing that we remove people for where they're happy maybe they just don't want to do this they don't like it or they don't have the skills that they are not interested I I became a an animator to be an animator I became a designer to be a designer and the one to be dealing with these other the things so that's something very important to keep in mind and now the other side of this same coin which is this I unfortunately I've talked and I and I know very amazing people that they would be absolutely great middle managers or they will have an Excell a very successful management career they think they are not good enough [Music] um that is in itself a good thing

because you may they put value into what it means to be a manager they realize they will have a lot of responsibility and we can make a big difference a big positive difference or negative difference in the team so the fact that they value the fact that they understand the weight of the role and they probably they don't feel safe enough to or uh cap capable enough to feel those shoes it means that they really appreciate their role and they take it seriously so maybe if you are in that position maybe it is actually for you and it's very sad because we are not empowering Lots many uh lots of people like this that are and we're missing out we're missing out on great uh managers um let me see where we are yes I want to share a little example quickly of a friend of mine uh and he's from college he was in finance he is in finest and he had the worst managers

that you can even imagine and what I like what he said we were discussing how they do things there and how we do things in the gaming industry and he said the f he had the worst manages he said the fact that you care the fact that someone tries to improve we may do it wrong we may make mistakes but the fact that we say okay what have we done wrong how can we improve it just that fact that that already pulls you way ahead of many other the manag that they don't care they are not interested or they are just in this position because career progression or because it just happened to be there so the fact of caring the fact of being interested that already makes a huge difference so the last spot that I want to talk about the last point about that 47% is this um and it's a it's a tricky one when probably you're taking those first steps you will be either promoted or maybe you change jobs

and you're going to another company and you will jump into an already working machine even if you're starting a studio from scratch probably you have investors or you have Partners uh but this applies mainly those promotions changing companies you may join there and then you may find very unethical or toxic or just plainly bad negative practices and we have plenty of examples in the game industry so we don't need to talk about that it can be from crunch or uh toxic Behavior or harassment and the danger of taking those first steps in a place like that is that you may end up normalizing it and become a new normal for you and the problem is that you will take that new normal with you and you will take it to other places to other Industries and to other jobs that you may have and so it's a very risky one and is it

requires a lot of um a very strong moral compass and a very strong personality to not be sucked into into that because again all these three points are very sneaky that they just before you know it they are part of you and and it takes uh strength to realize that is wrong and not to be sucked into that and not normalizing it and just a quick note because I prepared This months ago but last week I watched for the first time uh the devil wor Prada I never watched that movie before and if you watch it you'll understand perfectly what I mean here and if you haven't and you watch it you will see but pretty much I was surprised I was like oh this is exactly this is uh uh the protagonist joins a company with a very questionable with very questionable ethics and she despises it but by the halfway through the movie she's fully into that and she's already she suck the the the ethics of of the company and she became

absolutely that so it's a good example now with all these negative all these speit FS all this this narrow path that we need to follow in those first steps how to do it right and how not to be part of that 47% I want to dedicate a little bit of how to now that we're here we already H in the dance let's dance how to do this properly so how do we how are we our best managers the easy first exercise would be thinking about your managers manag that you liked or disliked and you have already a good example how would you do things how would you change things that moment that you were uh communicating something and you were ignored or many other examples you think I would do those things different so that's already a great start also as we I I said before it's a industry that continues to grow is very continues to morph into different things so this that we are doing right here are communicating exchanging and learning from each other is very important um it

is so one of the things I said at the very beginning it was about well-being and how well-being is very important nowadays and how we take it very seriously uh probably wasn't the case 40 years ago or longer luckily now we care about those things we saw How Some people prefer to have uh less pay but keep mental sanity and that is a change a change that we are struggling to adapt uh especially some people have been doing this for a long time we all heard the stories of yeah I used to crash 12 hours a day and that was the best thing and that was great uh but that's not the thing anymore uh luckily at least we're trying to prevent that so another statistic from ukg this time from the UK they consulted employees and they said let me quote one in three employees say that managers fail to recognize the

impact they have on their team's mental health and that's precisely what we're talking about we are struggling to realize that that's very important and that we have a big weight when it comes to that whatever happens in that team whatever happens in our project it will be carried over we need to understand that the responsibility is very big whatever happens there it will be it will influence the private lives the Family Life friends Etc it will we spend lots of time at work and it's a very part very important part of our lives and we can affect the whole world of a person if we don't do things properly and if we do things properly we may affect in a positive way and you probably be through something like that so you can relate so how do we do this properly how can we understand evaluate and properly care about the well-being and I put holistic because I'm not talking just about uh uh mental wellbeing and

mental health I'm talking about everything from physical social spiritual it's really important how do we do this properly um the first step is very important is that we need to be okay ourselves we need to be in a good place to be able to do that if we are struggling uh if we're are not in a good place if we are we are not okay ourselves it's really hard to be able to help someone else actually probably we end up doing things making things worse uh so that's a key thing that we need to consider and be honest with ourselves as I said with the two hard example before you can push it and you can continue doing regardless but that won't have a good results so it's important to be honest with ourselves once we're okay uh we can proceed with the next step also the fact of saying being honest and saying I can't I need some time it humanizes us and shows to to the other people to the team Etc that we are human

and we need some time of that we having through something tough and we need that day off and say he did it I can do it as well so that's really important okay so how do we do this it's of course this is the new set of skills I we're talking about the two different things about the communication and how to do that and how crucial it is is the lifeline to your team to employees to your team image to your colleagues and it's key to have it there so it could be it's we know it um but we do we actually do it I know many examples that it doesn't happens maybe the documentation is there how things should be but it doesn't actually happen and it has real uh repercussions in the end product so genuine communication is very important so I wrote that genuine communication genuine connections when you exchange with the people the

managers you may find some that prefer a more professional relationship a more strictly Work Connection but I came here to tell you that maybe a more genuine closer uh connection we're creating trust and creating a truthful environment can make a really positive impact and by a genuine connection and very close connection with team and your employees I don't mean uh being best friends forever and hanging out every Saturday what I mean is truly listening great managers are great listeners and truly listening and caring about that person maybe you're talking about your uh family your pets your hobbies or maybe you are talking you're telling me about problem with your Hardware or your software every little thing I genely listen and I generally then apply solutions to it

um let me see so I'm telling you yes you need to have that very close Connection close relationship that enable us to why why is important because it enable us to spot and see what is going good and what is going wrong if we don't do it we may it and of course it takes time you may say oh yeah that's that's great of course yeah we'll talk to everyone every day for hours but it takes time it takes effort and in terms it takes money it takes resources why why would I do that sometimes I just don't have the time and and that takes us to this slide where we see that it is really important and and we see very very good examples in the last few years in the industry where truly happy teams in a good place they can produce great work because we're here to make great games and the

State of Mind of the team is crucial so that close and genuine connection and relationship and understanding what's wrong to the let's say microscopical level it enables to apply Solutions genuine Solutions which you may be vacation it may be reduce the workload it may be uh some time off whatever it is but we actually remove obstacles for the people to get to making a great uh work so I remember back at Uni at College studying about Henry Ford and Ford uh car maker and it was fun because he was starting we know that we need to thank him for the 40 hour work week and the way we are here right now is many things thanks to him and I remember the first things he did he was trying to play

music in the production line where they were making the cars and just by that little change you may know about it I really increased the Productions of the cars so just one little change making more comfortable the employee it increase production how for us that we are in a creative industry creating art literally we're creating stories characters environments worlds out of nowhere how can a person in a dark place not in a good spirit how can we create anything like that how can we create art from a bad place so if he worked for creating cars for manufacturing cars it definitely should work for us um making games so if we go the other way around what we want is a great game and of course this is a business so we want the conclusion is we want a great game that makes us lots of money of course how do we do that we need that great team that is in a great place to make that great game otherwise

it won't happen how do we do that well we have we can enable that team removing those problems and how do we know about those problems well we established that genuine and close connection where we can find out about those details about that wellbeing mental well-being and some subtle things that we can only discover through that very close connection now as a quick summary of what we learned today I'm running of time here um we learn that management don't wrong has a really high rate of of failure and it's something that we shouldn't underestimate and jump into it like I he many testimonies just jump into it and then you regret it so it's something that you shouldn't underestimate and we learn how important is to avoid burnout and how management is not the only path there a one big change we should understand in this industry lastly we understood how important is

the influence that we can have in the team as a whole in the whole mental and health of the team and how communication can help us so much with that it's all about communication genine communication at least for me so hopefully uh this talk will help to make a better industry uh one that we can make better games and in a healthier environment so with that I I really thank you for being here and for listening to me so thank you very much thank you [Music]