Being an effective people manager in the games industry
Managing and leading people is an essential part of every healthy studio. It's what leads people to stick around and enjoy their work, get the support they need, and it can make or break a development team.
It is also a very challenging and complex role. You are no longer just aiming to deliver the best possible work on the game, but also helping others and the overall team maintain a healthy environment where everyone can do their job effectively.
This is the first question that anyone that is considering the role should be asking themselves. The answer might very well surprise you, so make sure to consider all of this before taking your next step.
Management is a completely different branch of your career, with a totally new set of skills and challenges. It will require time, experience, extensive training and study to get good at it.
You will have less time to do hands-on work, or in some cases none at all, so you need to be fine with this. Some developers have a hard time coming to terms with this, and try to reconcile both responsibilities by putting more hours in. This routinely leads to subpar results on both ends.
Instead you should ensure that your expectations and your responsibilities are clear both to you and your peers, and handover what you can no longer take in.
People should become managers because they love supporting and lifting other people up, not because they feel it’s the only way to have a promotion or a salary raise. The games industry has a tendency of pushing people into managing roles later in the career, as if it’s a natural next step after reaching a certain level of seniority.
Some will get into management roles because it’s the only way to progress their career, as they feel they
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