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- Teamwork In The Games Industry: Embrace It Or
Consider An Alternative Line Of Work
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- January 19,
2009
- By Eric M. Scharf
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- When hiring managers, from time to
time, focus exclusively on what a resume displays (versus what a
thorough background check will illuminate in terms of character,
work ethic, and one's ability to play nice with others), a
team-product-and-company damaging issue will inevitably surface.
This is just one of those items on a parental check list that should
be dealt with during pre-school and elementary school years, and,
yet, each person's upbringing and genetics are different, and, as
Dan Patrick, formerly of ESPN, used to say (paraphrased): "You can't
stop it, and you can only hope to contain it."
And, what if you had the perfect childhood and upbringing (with
perfect skin, hair, teeth, musculature, no body odor or bad breath
to speak of, as well as a really engaging personality), only to have
your first few jobs expose you to teammates who are truly incapable
(in quality, skill, and collaboration), with rotten attitudes to
boot?
You are either (a) experiencing a run of highly coincidental bad
luck in a team environment, or (b) you are unknowingly wearing your
perfection on your sleeve, which, ironically, to your teammates
makes you appear aloof, unforgiving, and cold, or (c) you are on to
something very real, occurring far too often, and you will either
become a successful remote contractor, or you will leave the games
industry, never to return, and never to lay blame, either. "It is
what it is" - Bill Parcells.
Should people, with any appreciation for their fellow human beings,
recognize-and-value the concept of teamwork? Yes, but this is a
"free country," and people who cannot seem to work together, or do
not want to work together with others in a team-by-necessity work
environment (no matter how compelling a regular paycheck may be),
simply do not have to agree with this line of thinking. Companies
and co-workers, in general, can be as successful as they wish to be,
or, they can limp along and be as miserable as imagination will
allow.
If a person who is anti-teamwork is determined to be a part of the
games industry, then, that person, whether in-house or outsource (especially
outsource - where communication is paramount to success), absolutely must find the
intestinal fortitude to extend an olive branch of understanding, at
least once if not twice, to a group of teammates who may be
functioning on a completely different or higher level of
communication and achievement.
That person needs to find a middle
ground that allows just enough professional-and-collaborative peace
between teammates to prevent any damage to the success of a product,
which directly affects the payroll of an employer, which allows you
to be employed in the first place. A quality Human Resources
Manager, armed, of course, with an approved mission to procure an
even-but-prioritized mix of human being and fantastic skill set,
always goes a long way towards preventing such a burden to a team of
employees charged with growing an employer’s stable of successful
products.
On the other hand, if you are independently wealthy, and your money
is invested in gold, then, you can basically ignore exchange rates
and inflation, and tell-off as many past, present, and potential
teammates as you wish. Now, before you decide to run out and marry a
99-year-old billionaire who has one week to live and no desire to
have you sign a prenuptial agreement, just settle down and come back
to reality.
Be constructive, be smart, and objectively survey the
games industry employment landscape. Today’s market and products
demand people who can-and-want-to-be pleasant and productive
teammates, even in times of great stress (which can be often in the
games industry), as you will accomplish far more as part of a team
than you will as an overtaxed individual. Just ask the Dallas
Cowboys of the National Football League. They can tell you all about
the need for teamwork.
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