The gaming industry in our region is still in its infancy, which opens up space for discussion about various positions that are necessary for the process of making video games.
Except for rare examples of wildly popular indie titles, most successful games are developed by companies with teams of a few hundred people. That’s why the notion (which has its roots in hacker culture) of a small number of Programmers developing a successful game in their dark basements is almost untenable today.
A much more likely prospect is that of sprawling teams, lots of meetings and tons of people all working together to produce one game. With that in mind, we can assume that there are dozens of positions that we know little about, which are essential to the creation of almost every video game.
Let’s take a peek into the world of one of the key production positions within the gaming industry. Do you know who a Product Owner is and how they work?
Product Owner is a managerial position filled by communicative, analytical and tech-savvy people who can preserve the vision of a product during its creation, from start to finish.
Bearing in mind that this is a more recent term, which in our region is often loosely translated as “strategic planning manager”, sometimes this position is confused with similar ones that can be found in the gaming or the IT industry.
By searching the internet, you can find that a Product Owner is the same as a Product Director/Manager and that they share a skill set that is needed by a Project Manager and even a Producer.
Either way, the Product Owner is, in a broad description, the link between the players, the stakeholders, the final vision of the game and the team developing the game. Representing the interests of players and stakeholders at the same time, the Product Owner tries to ensure that the final product meets their expectations and needs. By communicating with different parties and analyzing the collected data, the person in this position gives actionable suggestions to the development team.
To get into exactly what a Product Owner does, we need to start with the individual skills required for this job. We will highlight a few essentials for all tasks performed by a person in this position.
The key is for a person to be able to deconstruct the information they receive and break it down into smaller categories to draw conclusions, which is ideal when determining whether a video game’s development is following the path originally intended.
In addition to that, the Product Owner documents and analyzes player feedback and then passes it on to the development team.
As the position is focused on mediating between potential players/stakeholders and the development team, communication skills are essential.
A Product Owner needs to effectively communicate information, collaborate with different parties and ensure everyone agrees on the next steps.
Hence, the day of a person in this position is filled with a considerable number of meetings.
Video game development is, in essence, a technical matter, so the Product Owner must have certain knowledge in this field.
However, it should be kept in mind that this position does not require knowledge of programming as such, but an understanding of the entire process of making video games: the programming part, the pipeline for art and animation, as well as testing practices.
The Product Owner must know the Agile methodology and is often part of the Agile team.
The primary responsibility of the Product Owner is to ensure that the product backlog is in line with the wishes of the players and the overall vision of the product.
The backlog is a central repository of user stories, planned fixes and improvements, and is organized based on priorities that should be followed in the work.
Of crucial importance for anyone in this position is the skill of time management, partly because of the expected number of meetings and partly because of the very nature of the position.
Bearing in mind that a Product Owner needs to implement the vision of the product from the beginning of production to its end, it is important to set deadlines in advance, both for short-term and long-term goals.
Since the video game industry, especially in our region, is still young, there are currently very few direct educational programs for various positions. This opens up space for you to think seriously about potentially building your career as a Product Owner because even if you are not a technical person or a manager, there is a chance to develop the necessary skills during the work itself.
And don’t forget – what is often not mentioned and is very important, is that in the video game industry, it is crucial that a Product Owner loves and knows video games. It gives a “level up” of your commitment and understanding of the process of creating a title, which is why you may be born for this role.
If the position sounds tempting to you, throw yourself into further research and, above all, devote yourself to developing the necessary skills. Now is your chance!
