Update: A Summer Quality Break

Every so often, major projects rise unexpectedly to distract me from the work I am trying to accomplish.  At times, these projects are eagerly welcomed in spite of their tendency to draw heavily upon my attention and time, at the expense of other such projects I am attempting to accomplish.  Such has been the case over this summer, ever since the month of April, when I was tasked with deploying and managing an entirely new ISO 9001:2008 certified Quality Management System within our office.  Yesterday, we successfully completed our audit to confirm the status of our implementation of the system in accordance with ISO (with 1 minor non-conformance) and thus receive our certificate – I now feel comfortable returning to the world.

GDC Follow-Up: The Open Office Dilemma

Okay, so I lied – I did not post all kinds of content in the week (or month) following GDC (it is still coming, please be patient).  However, over the past month, while catching up on the lovely piles of paperwork greeting me upon my return to the office, I have been reflecting intently on the feedback I received during GDC. 

Now I cannot tell you how thrilled I was to realize the degree to which the subject matter of my talk was desired and valued.  Members of the game development community, it seems, are quite eager to learn more about how their work environment impacts their performance and creativity. 

But even more fulfilling for me was that, due to the format of the poster session, I was able to interact directly with the attendees of the talk, hear their stories, answer their questions, take immediate notes on their feedback, and build connections with those interested in learning more through collaboration.  Thankfully, any fears of chirping crickets were immediately abolished as I realized, GDC attendees are not a shy bunch when it comes to feeding their insatiable hunger for knowledge or leaving a speaker happily hoarse at the end of a talk.

Across the many stories and questions I heard, a select few themes resounded above all the rest.  I’ll attempt to address all of these one by one and answer any questions that may have been raised and left unanswered during the hectic 2 hours of the session.  I’ll begin by calling out the most contentious element of the presentation, namely: the infamous OPEN OFFICE DILEMMA. 

GDC Poster: How to Build a Game Studio

Thank you once again to all who attended my talk this last week.  Over the next week I will be posting a lot more information to address some of the specific issues and questions that were raised during the talk.  Please stay tuned as I will be continuing this line of research, collaborating with others I met during GDC, and posting more updated information over time.

Also, if you have any other specific questions that I was unable or didn't have time to answer, please send them to me directly (jared.schmidt@yahoo.com) and I will respond to them on this site.

Thank you all again!  Below you will find the original poster from my session.  (Please note that the images depicted on the poster are not projects of mine, but are excellent illustrations of the principles outlined in the model.  See each image for its source.)

GDC:11 Poster Session - How to Build a Game Studio

Except where otherwise noted, this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

GDC 2011 Content

If you have come to this site because you attended my poster session entitled How to Build a Game Studio, first of all, THANK YOU for attending my talk!  I hope that you were able to take something valuable away from it and I encourage you to share your feedback on this site, whether positive, negative or constructive.  

If you are looking for the content I promised will be on the site - I will be uploading the referenced tools, checklists and images from my talk after the conference is over.  I wanted to do this in order to integrate feedback from the talk into the content I am providing on this site.  It is my hope that in this way it will be more interactive in nature and hopefully help to tailor the information more specifically to your needs.

Once again, please, please do not hesitate to provide your feedback!  I would sincerely appreciate it!

Introduction

The Golden Spike.  The final spike driven by American tycoon, industrialist, politician, and founder of Stanford University Leland Stanford to join together the rails of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific into the First Transcontinental Railroad.  

Although this website has little to do with railroads, I felt the Golden Spike was a fitting allegory for what it is trying to accomplish.

The purpose of this website is to explore and discover the value that is created at the intersection between the two seemingly disparate disciplines of business and creativity.


Time and time again, in my studies and my work, I have been told of the apparent conflict that supposedly arises between business and creativity.  And though I see it, I also see the opportunity for immense value creation.  Furthermore, I have recognized the interdependencies that exist between the two.  Indeed, there is a creativity to business and a business to creativity.  And these are what drive innovation, business growth, differentiation, and value creation for businesses.

My first exploration into this nexus will be dedicated to my talk at GDC 2011 entitled How to Build a Game Studio, at which I will be sharing my findings on strategies to leverage workplace design to facilitate team creativity and performance.  I will be sharing all of these findings on this website, including specific tools which can be used by game development companies to begin to develop their own organizational specific strategies for effective workplace design.  I will also share resources for design and construction product information for those looking to investigate further and begin to implement these strategies.

I am always open to discussion and constructive criticism, so please feel free to contact me.