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The Number One Educational Resource for the Game Industry

Session Name: Leaders Working at the Heart of the Team in 2023
Speaker(s): Grant Shonkwiler, Erika Olsen, Richard Atlas, Roger Collum, Carolina Mastretta
Company Name(s): Shonkventures, Xbox Game Studios Publishing, Clever Endeavour Games, Creative Assembly, Original Fire Games
Track / Format: Production & Team Leadership

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Overview: Project management methodologies and processes in the video game industry have been analyzed ad nauseam, often sold as production cure-alls. While these mechanics of game production are important, there's another critical facet that has been explored far less: The emotional and elusive feel of being a great leader, producer, and/or project manager. Once processes are in place, in order to maintain the health of a project the leader must have their finger firmly on the pulse of the team, and be able to diagnose situations that often call for drastically different solutions. In this session, we will investigate facets of soft skills and share specific situations that we have encountered throughout our careers, and how soft skills have saved the team and shipped awesome games. Topics include: bringing your whole self as a leader to the table, building, sustaining and repairing trust within our teams, compassionate leadership, production and leadership from the producers' perspective, and accepting that mistakes will be made.

Game Developers Conference 2023

Grant Shonkwiler

Shonkventures

Erika Olsen

Xbox Game Studios Publishing

Richard Atlas

Clever Endeavour Games

Roger Collum

Creative Assembly

Carolina Mastretta

Original Fire Games

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Production & Team Leadership

Production