1. Top Ten List for Directors of Technology
Presenter: Rich Moore
Title Slide

2. Objective of the Session
Assume Dir of Tech knows how to select, hire, train and evaluate Tech Team
Technical Work - Architecture, Design, Implementation topics are covered elsewhere
What’s the remaining job details …
What are the non-technical aspects of the role?

3. Top Ten 10. Know the Mission 9. Focus on Results 8. It’s a Team Effort
7. Know don’t Guess
6. Diagram
5. It’s Tools – It’s Code – It’s Both
4. Everyone’s in QA
3. Know the Culture
2. You’re not build software, You’re building a Game
1. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
The Top Ten List

4. What’s Unique about Dir of Tech?
“All Roads lead to Rome”
Technology is central to all disciplines and activities
The buck stops here
When systems break, call Tech
Everything is High Priority
(should be) Always ready to ship
Technology is the Hub on which all other aspects of game development and production connect
Dir of Tech is responsible for this “center of the universe”

5. Common Problems - Shared by all Team Managers
Influence and People Skills necessary
Interfaces to cross-functional individuals and departments
Must deal with Political Environment
Must work within Exec Producer Vision and Strategy   
High Quality, On time, Under Budget
People Skills required
Must perform within the environment “restrictions”
Project Management Skills required

6. Know the Mission Vision for the Product Game Design Document
Key Deadlines, Important Dates, Pulse of the project (Auto Builds, Weekly Version, …)
Determines the framework and strategy for development
Anchor work and effort against the Project Mission
If the Exec fails to provide, define it!

7. Focus on Results It’s great to solve challenging problems,
Or to write elegant solutions,
But, how does it contribute to shipping the game
Corollary – there is often a simpler (and easier) solution (remove complexity)
Tailor the Technical Activity to produce the best results

8. It’s a Team Effort Maintain Morale Reward Accomplishment
Customer Service Attitude –
What’s best for Project, may not be best (at the moment) for Tech
Instill a Customer Focus attitude in Tech

9. Know don’t guess Ok to not know (but find out!)
Make decisions based on knowledge and expertise (intuition)
Test Assumptions
“How could this happen? I was so careful. I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. Where did I go right?”
Zero Mostel, "The Producers"
Make informed decisions
Strive for complete Transparency

10. White Boards are your friend!
Diagram
· Can the idea, process, solution be described in a few words?
· It doesn’t exist until someone writes it down
Visual presentation = clarity
White Boards are your friend!
Visual display process, tool use, architecture …

11. It’s Tools – It’s Code – It’s Both
Ideal – The Game Engine is the Authoring Environment
Write once – build in game, use as tool component
Use the best design philosophy you can for software development
Use the in-game environment wherever possible

12. Everyone’s in QA Testing should be ongoing
Metrics, Ratios and tracking
Who designs the test plan?
Put a Release process in place as soon as possible
Testing should be ongoing activity
Nightly Builds
Continuous Integrations
Test Plan (Design to Test)
Always ready to ship

13. Know the Culture What’s the political environment?
Who are the influencers?
How is success measured?
How do you adapt your plan of action to suit the culture?
How much control do you really have
Align Personal/Career goals with Company Goals
Outsourced Development/Distanced Management impacts “the culture”
“I'm expendable! I'm the guy in the episode who dies to prove how serious the situation is!” sam Rockwell, "Galaxy Quest“

14. You’re not Building Software, You’re building a Game
If the game doesn’t get produced …
If the player doesn’t “get it” …
If the product doesn’t sell …
The best software implementation ever is still shinola!
Focus the Technical Effort to deliver the best Team result = The Best game possible
Evaluate against the desired outcome

15. Communicate, Communicate, Communicate
Communicate vertically and horizontally
Reinforce mission, repeat the mantra
Share problems – focus on solutions (not blame)
Fill the Vacuum
Ongoing communication (can you ever over communicate?)
Validate that messages are received (is the communication working?)
Transparency is extremely valuable (up and down)
"If you tell the truth you don't have to remember anything." (Mark Twain)

16. Questions?
Questions?