My Dream of the Perfect Organization

Administration, HR, IT support teams:

Live and promote company values: Whenever you ask people, they know the core values and believe in them. They give answers in terms of values and are able to make decisions based on them. They use every means possible to share and disseminate processes, organization and culture. They are on a constant lookout for learning and sharing knowledge:

• 1:1 with leads
• workshops
• repeat the messages on all occasions
• make the language accessible and behavior oriented, not buzzwords
• create and support values through messages outside the boundaries of the company: language of job ads, imagery in job ads, any external communication (emails to suppliers, candidates, etc).

Why culture and values are so important? Because there are many ways to do things, many organization types that are successful. Therefore it is needed to have a guideline in terms of what best practice fits the team and be able to choose through dialogue and introspection.

Message: We are smart rebels. We understand the organization and act not because we follow processes blindly but because we understand what we do. We can explain everything, we have initiative and we learn from our mistakes. 

Administration is there to support people: All requests are handled swiftly and transparently. Administration is an example of organization and aims of decreasing load from the product development team.

Everyone participates in marketing the organization and its projects:  

• Follow-up on events and propose participation.
• Encourage people to speak at conferences.
• Organize in-studio events and develop a network of partners for media exchanges.
• Follow-up on press releases, find ways to promotes ourselves, connect with bloggers and press.
• Follow-up with teams and project managers and make sure they understand they build a company they like to work in. Each team should provide recommendations that pass the in-probation period. Teach and advocate this behavior. Ask what has been done and assist in planning next steps.
• If a studio within a larger organization, develop a network within the company at large and be recognized as a major contributor.

Product development:

Managers / Project / Product Managers:

Understand they are part of the driving entrepreneurial force within the company and they involved in building an organization they wish to work for. Thus they need to plan, recruit, participate in talks about staff development, help define vision, develop their people. They listen to other opinions and they are able to identify communication deadlocks, which makes them excellent communicators. They are humble and smart.

• Develop network within the company and outside.
• Master project management. Provide plans, track, follow-up on objectives.
• Define ways in which they can bring extra value and be competitive.
• Measure everything - product performance and team performance.
• Develop their core teams. 
• Create an atmosphere of fun and focus within their teams. Pitch and advocate their projects. Excite their staff. Make sure their people constantly recommend profiles to join the company. Make this as a constant focus.
• Own the projects beyond ship date. Follow, request data, understand the business of the projects and pitch improvements based on metrics and business aims.
• Develop their staff and create succession plan for the ultimate goal of making sure they can subtract themselves from the production processes, to be able to scale and take on new developments safely. 
• Understand cost constraints and lead their projects with business in mind. 

Technical / Team Leaders:

• They are the driving force of innovation within our studio. 
• They shape opinions. They don't complain but change what is not working. They suggest solutions to problems and encourage engineers to become better at what they do.
• They are an example for the technical staff in terms of core skills, motivation and values.
• They develop their staff, have courage to express themselves, look into the eyes of their people when they deliver news. They are not afraid of confrontation because they know the project is king and have the moral authority to expect results. They listenbut are not afraid to say no with compassion.
• They work side by side with their teams and are an example of commitment. They work harder than anyone else in the team.
• They network with other professionals and are always on top of the latest trends and news. They always learn something new.

Associate project managers:

• They only think about project management, process optimization and decreasing risk.
• They are crazy about meeting goals and shipping on time and they cannot sleep when the project risk is increasing.
• They are an example of lateral leadership, organization, clarity of expression and clarity of plans.
• They have a deep understanding of everything in the project and can have a technical conversation about any feature they are supervising.
• They propose solutions, feature cuts, replan, rebaseline and measure everything. 
• They love metrics, Excel and Jira. 
• They like clarity and can spot assumptions from a distance.
• They make sure the project hits all the milestones, drive quality control, negotiate and set objectives for 3rd party service providers that fall under jurisdiction. They make sure the team has no blockers and they are the go-to persons for getting stuff done.
• They manage the relation with everyone from the production team and any external provider. They recognize the Producer as the main decision maker in the project thus they make sure he is properly informed and he has all the data to take the proper course. They exercise their reporting and communication skills on the producer so that, when time comes, they are ready to move into his role.

Engineers: 

• They are continuously developing themselves technically and on core skills. They read, prototype, communicate.
• Engineers are crazy about automating boring activities. They are keen on making the world around them a better place and suggest solutions for the problems they spot.
• They enjoy networking with other engineers and discuss technical problems and solutions.
• They ask questions and are passionate about what they do.
• They think 3-7 times before answering "it is impossible".
• They don't complain, but suggest improvements. They seek improvement in themselves first.
• They are the driving force that makes our company a better place for everyone and the root of all innovation.