Remote teams need "a foundation of trust" to be successful, says Jeff Gardiner

gamedeveloper.com:

Former Bethesda producer Jeff Gardiner and his company co-founders at Something Wicked Games are continuing to chug away at their first game. Since exiting stealth mode at Gamescom 2022, Gardiner's put on a dedicated effort to publicly discuss what he's learned about building and running teams of developers.

A few weeks ago at GDC, we found Gardiner wandering the halls of Moscone Center and sat down for a chat about game leadership. In particular, we wanted to know what he's learned assembling an all-remote team, especially after years of working in-person at Bethesda Game Studios.

Gardiner's number-one takeaway for team leaders wasn't about remote-friendly tools or proper tax logs—it was about trust. In an era where studios big and small are learning more about how to lead better teams, trust seems like a more important topic than ever.

Gardiner is leading the all-remote team at Something Wicked Games from his home office in the suburbs of Maryland—and as we chatted, he discussed the team's desire to hire developers from as far away as Portugal (he made a particular pitch for Portugal-based readers to get in touch, since their next game takes inspiration from the country's geography and architecture).

To have a healthy working relationship with developers in an all-remote environment, he said that he's learned teams need two things: trust, and a sense of purpose.

"In a remote studio, you need to establish trust quickly," he explained "because you're not seeing people sometimes for days at a time." He talked about how it's important for his employees to know that "he has their back."

To work independently however, teams need to be given "a clear sense of purpose." "It's so important for me as a creative individual to know