Producer Advice from Blizzard Entertainment

There was an article released recently on Gamasutra about the anatomy of a good video game Producer. Although I don't know much about production myself, I have found this article to be very informative and have learned a lot from it. I figured I'd share it with all of you so that those that are aspiring to be, or are actively working as, a producer will gain some useful tips.

Here are some key points I've taken away from Ernst ten Bosch (the producer at Blizzard):

• Producers should know the actual process that their team members undergo in order to better understand the amount of time it will take to impact the project and to know when an idea is outlandish and needs to be prevented from becoming a production task in order to save unnecessary work by the developers. This means that they should understand what works with design or art in order to schedule tasks and make projections of how long a particular new workflow will impact the entire scope of the project.
• They are forward thinkers: they must be able to see the big picture when the rest of the developers are focused on their current tasks at hand. This means knowing which are the most important tasks and being able to prioritize them and reminding everyone what they should be working on.
• They are social: you can't be shy as a producer, and you must know how to run meetings and round up people to get everyone on the same plane as far as viewpoints or making sure key players are all in attendance for important decisions to be made.
• They must take notes in a professional manor in order to present them to the publishers and have them easily understandable. There can't be any personalized notes or similar as it would just be confusing to clients.
• Producers should be actively be looking for ways to improve the project. I find this the most important, as the article even states that a production job is such that it is intangible and not able to be tracked like the other disciplines. Therefore, a producer can survive for a while by being lazy but it won't help anyone else or the project in general. If a producer is keeping in the loop and being able to find the best person for each task and not just mindlessly taking notes, they will be able to make the entire process more efficient. This, in essence, is the necessity of a producer in the first place.

I hope all of you fellow producers and aspiring producers will be inspired by this information!

http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ErnstTenBosch/20130919/200659/What_Makes_a_Good_Game_Producer_Part_2.php

-Ken