Tips for a Product Owner in the 2024 Gaming Space
Imagine you’re a Product Owner in the fast-paced world of game development in 2024. You juggle priorities, manage expectations, and navigate constant change. How do you stay ahead of the curve and ensure your game thrives? As a Product Owner/Game Lead at Mighty Bear Games for the past couple of years, I’ll share some advice in this article based on my experiences.
Prepare your week before it starts
I’ve mentioned this point in my previous article but it is worth revisiting. Starting the week on the right foot is incredibly important; by dedicating time to prepare at the start of the week you can anticipate challenges and set a positive momentum for the coming days. This preparation acts as a roadmap, guiding your team’s efforts and ensuring that everyone is aligned with the overall objectives.
- What are the goals for this week?
- What are the potential risks?
- What details do I need to follow up on with other disciplines/departments?
- What discussions might I need to have this week to ensure next week goes smooth? It is best to get these booked right at the start before the calendar fills up.
- What are the important details for the game team to be aware of this week? (more on this point later)
This is the difference between starting the week with a clear focus vs starting with a blank slate and losing most of Monday playing catch up.
Create a first version under time pressure
Certain tasks require more time than others, and some tasks need a significant amount of unbroken “runway” to complete, for example, writing documentation on a new game or feature. I like to allocate an extended period (for example, Wednesdays are marked as “No Meetings Day” at Mighty Bear) for this. However, I can find it difficult to get started with a blank slate and use that runway to its fullest.
One approach I’ve found works for me is to write my first draft under time pressure ahead of that allotted time—this may be leading up to the end of the day, before lunch, or even in the evening, and ideally includes a first pass on the entirety of the document. Even a skeleton of the key points is acceptable. This first draft provides a perfect springboard to get started when the time comes.
Keep the team up-to-date
A key aspect of effective leadership is transparency. Sharing your plan and current thinking with the team regularly keeps everyone in the loop and reinforces trust within your team. It ensures everyone understands their role, the project’s progress, and the direction in which you’re steering the ship.
I like to make simple decks to detail recent changes to our upcoming releases, which I follow by highlighting our current goals and showing a roadmap for the coming month or so and what features we’ll be working on. Most importantly, I make a point of highlighting why we’ll be working on a given feature.
It takes just a couple of minutes to share with the team every couple of weeks or when necessary, and it usually leads to me receiving a few messages throughout the day from people checking in or clarifying certain details. When these messages come through I consider these updates to be working. After all, we may have otherwise continued with some of the team unaware of a minor shift in direction which could prove impactful throughout a couple of weeks!
Balance the backlog
Keeping your backlog under control is a tightrope walk. While staying on top of it is essential, there’s a risk of overdoing it and wasting time by not considering how adaptive your roadmap needs to be. Different projects require different levels of planning — some projects will require detailed plans for the next year or more spreading across all different disciplines, while others may not.
With experience, you’ll develop a sense of how much and how detailed of a planning runway your project requires. Excessive planning can lead to wasted time on plans that might not ever come into being, so finding the right balance is key.
Read
In honesty I had neglected reading in recent years — I couldn’t find a way to read consistently in a way that worked for me. There’s always something else to do, or I would plain forget about reading when I did have time.
Turns out, the answer for me was to listen to audiobooks. I’ve built a habit of listening to audiobooks on businesses and management while traveling to and from the office. A significant part of my problem was deciding which book to even listen to first, despite having built up a significant backlog of interesting books, so in the end I forced myself to pick something (it turned out to be Only the Paranoid Survive by Andrew S Grove) and get started. Gradual small steps are the way I get going on bigger tasks.
I was genuinely surprised by just how much knowledge and advice is waiting in books; I’m an avid listener of long-form podcasts but a lot of what I’d heard was just scratching the surface. With especially good books, I now find myself jotting down thoughts that are actively changing my approach to milestones, communication, and management in general.
Take time to think and reflect
It’s easy to overlook the importance of reflection or ‘thinking’ time amid a hectic schedule. I’ve found myself with very little of it in recent years. However, I have always seen the value in setting aside moments for contemplation since these can provide fresh perspectives on challenges and lead to innovative solutions.
Sitting down in silence for a while or even doing something as simple as a walk (without headphones!) can often catalyze the next great idea. Especially in the world of smartphones, where we rarely take time to stop and think.
Embrace first principles thinking
When deciding on a feature, it’s beneficial to step back and consider first principles thinking. This involves asking fundamental questions, for example: From a player’s perspective, what do they see? What about this feature is important to them? Why do we even need this feature or process? These simple questions help to strip away unnecessary complexities and focus on what truly matters, as well as open the box for some tough questions to work through and answer (that’s where reflection time can come in handy!).
Conclusion
Being a successful Product Owner in 2024 is a journey of continuous learning and maintaining momentum. It involves finding a balance between planning and flexibility, fostering a collaborative environment, and always keeping the player in mind. I hope you have found at least one of these pieces of advice useful!
