Comments on: Team Members Are NOT Mind Readers

By: GameProducer.Net » Blog Archive » “And So On”

GameProducer.Net » Blog Archive » “And So On” — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 11:05:03 +0000

[...] a task assignment into a “and so on” is like expecting the other person to be a mind reader – I know that won’t [...]

By: Juuso - Game Producer

Juuso - Game Producer — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 05:32:07 +0000

@Engeor: Yep, that’s true – for some people. There are others who do nothing but read. It’s true that a proper document / contract about work that needs to be done (with some kind of service level agreement) is good to have then I believe it’s the relationship that counts. When one needs to start pointing out ‘what the contract’ says they are getting in a wrong direction…

By: Engeor

Engeor — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 17:24:34 +0000

I don’t know what is your experience but in my case no one read the text sometimes. On the other side, everyone look at the picture :-) In fact I don’t want to underestimate detailed documentation because when I recieve bad work (especially from external coworkers who are paid by finished work) I can allways say “but in the documentation it is described in another way” and it saves my nerves :-)

By: Jake Birkett

Jake Birkett — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 08:18:08 +0000

isn’t it “coporate monkeys”?

By: Juuso - Game Producer

Juuso - Game Producer — Tue, 18 Apr 2006 05:44:35 +0000

I presume I cannot call our code gorillas ‘code gorillas’ as well…? Producer chimpansee is ok then?

By: TimS

TimS — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 17:34:34 +0000

Rule #5167:

Don’t call your art monkeys “art monkeys”… at least not anywhere where they could see it… :p

By: Jake Birkett

Jake Birkett — Sat, 15 Apr 2006 08:10:16 +0000

lol, “Art Monkeys”. Anyway, yeah this applies to managing a team generally anyway. It’s always good to get them to repeat back their understanding of the task (if they don’t have a problem with this, and they shouldn’t if they are professional).

Also this article relates to customers. Sometimes a staff member would say, Custoer A is stupid, they have done this wrong or they didn’t understand me etc. I would say “No, it’s your fault if they didn’t understand. You are the professional, they are the end-user. It’s your job to work everything out for them and lead them by the hand so they totally understand and a grateful”. It’s a bit like teaching, blaming the pupil is not good, you just have to find a different way to get the information across.