Nathan Jones

Match3 is not the best game economy. I know some who would say it’s not even economy! Also, digital board games are just video games with terrible UX. Listen to the episode for more on these hot takes from me and the fellas.

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🔥Hot Take for PMs: Please don't hand me a solution to a problem. Instead, focus on detailing the problem and help me understand the why. We will ideate and find a solution together. Next week, in our first episode of ⚫️Bounce, Claire and I continue to unpack the PD + PM working relationship. Buckle up. Subscribe today - links in comments 👇

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It’s been my experience that standards for quality control within AI/Simulation/Breakout technology are not very well defined compared to traditional industry approaches. I’ve also found working directly with Davina Armstrong it’s because those standards don’t really exist yet. Solution? Hire an expert with real experience defining and implementing entirely new testing methodology for an entirely new innovative product. In my case, specifically, the work provided was for a highly advanced multiplayer game simulation heavily structured within multithreaded systems which bear the potential for unpredictable gameplay consequences stemming from error prone non-deterministic systems. You simply can’t manually test these types of things. Automated testing is even difficult, but Davina Armstrong handled it better than any even my high bar of quality expectations. If your team have QA gaps for your innovative systems, or want a highly qualified lead for traditional, I highly recommend connecting with them and seeing where it leads. Your product will thank you for it.

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Alistair Gray gave a great talk at Write The Docs Portland, going into detail about our investment in Internal Docs at Stripe. He breaks down our thoughts about issues of fragmentation, discoverability, and document quality - and how we’ve tried to build great tools to improve the state of internal docs at Stripe across all of these axes. In Q&A, he touches on an important theme which is essentially “how do we convince engineers to use the tooling we build.” The answer really boils down to “ruthlessly build what engineers want” while maintaining our core primitives (eg, ownership, doc quality) that we know are vital to the health of Stripe’s knowledge base all-up. Let me know if y’all have any questions - happy to expand more on these themes! https://lnkd.in/em4QRFmH

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I resonate with Kent Beck's insight on why creators often hesitate to release their projects: "By far the dominant reason for not releasing sooner was a reluctance to trade the dream of success for the reality of feedback." The fear of failure or receiving negative feedback can paralyze decision-making. Everyone prefers to be associated with success, not setbacks. Do you find it difficult to trade the dream of success for the reality of feedback? What helps you most in taking risky actions? For me, it's the attitude toward failure—being part of a kind, supportive team that embraces failure as a means to learn.

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My timeline would be a whole lot more useful if it wasn't for people counting other people's money. Just sayin'. (Bonus insight below) PS: This post was inspired by those who dismiss years of building, GTM, decent ROI as 'flash in the pan', 'past-peak', 'pitfall case studies'. Share what you build, dudes. PPS: Facebook's new AI flexi placements are trash for now in CPA/RoAS setups: Additional assets past the first one will not be delivered until after training data which sort of defeats the point of auto-changing campaign assets.

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How do I hire the best C and VP level candidates in Games & Entertainment? How do I get positions that pay million dollar plus salaries? Find the answers on the latest Deconstructor of Fun podcast (link in comment below) where I share my experiences of having led on some of the top searches in the world of Technology, Entertainment and Games. Was delightful to speak with Michail Katkoff, thank you for having Mission One on the show. We love the entertainment sector and hope this contribution helps companies make better hiring decisions, and individuals get the jobs that they want. Would love to hear feedback (what you agreed with, disagreed with, would like to hear more on etc), feel free to comment or DM me. #games #executive #hiring #entertainment #growth #csuite #podcasts

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Our design team recently attended Figma's Config 2024 conference, and they returned energized and full of insights. The event was a fantastic opportunity to network with designers from around the world and deepen our knowledge of Figma, our most critical design tool. Figma AI:  The new AI capabilities in Figma are particularly intriguing. Features like generating UI mocks, images, prototypes, and contextual layer renaming promise to streamline our design process. We're excited to explore how these tools can be applied practically in our projects. Figma Slides:  Figma's bold move into the presentation space with Figma Slides is noteworthy. Challenging established tools like PowerPoint and Google Slides, Figma Slides offers advanced editing tools, AI writing assistance, and interactive features. We're keen to see how this evolves and how we can leverage it for our design presentations. Attending Config 2024 has been incredibly valuable for our team. Jay Fienberg, Mariyam Elshrief, Claire Barth, and Ola Hirszler, feel free to call out some of your favorite learnings from the event! Let's embrace these innovations and see where they take us! #Design #Figma #Config2024 #Innovation #AI #Networking #TeamGrowth

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I'm not a gamer, but researching IF-based games (and stories) left me intrigued. IF-based stories, also known as interactive or conditional stories, adapt and change based on the reader's choices, actions, or predefined conditions. Instead of following a linear path, they offer multiple branching paths, allowing readers to influence the direction and outcome. I see potential in applying this approach to content delivery. Imagine developing stories (or games) that enable different personas to choose their own path. The content would be personalized, offering a way for marketing to tell multiple stories with one piece of content, utilizing multiple decision trees. While I haven't seen this approach used in content marketing, and I'm unsure if the technology exists to enable it, I believe it's a clever idea that could add significant value.

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🌟 How I Build a GSD Culture 🌟 I’ve led multiple companies with one mission: GSD (Get Stuff Done). Here’s what worked, what sucked, and how you can do it too. Where GSD Kicked Ass 🌟 🔹 Full Autonomy: When I could rip the band-aid off and make bold moves, we crushed it. Fast pivots, big wins. 🔹 Visibility: Get the hell out of your office. Sit with marketing, sales, engineering—wherever the action is. Listen, observe, lead by example. People notice. 🔹 Lead by Doing: Show, don’t tell. I rolled up my sleeves and showed the team how it’s done. This “monkey see, monkey do” approach turned everyone into doers. I was the lead monkey! 🐵 Where GSD Flopped 🚧 🔹 Spreadsheet Slaves: Leaders stuck in spreadsheets and offices killed GSD. Visibility is everything. 🔹 People-Pleasers: Democracy is great, but not when it leads to indecision. Strong leaders who balance input with action are crucial. 🔹 Bureaucratic Hell: Red tape suffocates GSD. Cutting through the BS is necessary but tough. How I Did It 🚀 Get Out There: Don’t be a desk jockey. Be where your teams are, use your ears to listen and your eyes to see. Help out, and let them see you GSD. Lead by Example: Be the action hero. Show what you expect. Gain trust through doing, not talking. Nobody wants to hear you ramble; they want to see you hustle. Surround Yourself with Doers: Action attracts action. When people see stuff getting done, they’ll want in. Build a team of GSDers, and watch the magic happen. Creating a GSD culture means being visible, decisive, and action-oriented. Inspire through action and make GSD the norm. Now, go GSD, my friends! 🚀 hashtag #teamGSD

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A fresh batch of recruitment news here

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Last night, Boston Post Mortem hosted a Fireside Production chat with Oleg Brodskiy, a development director with experience ranging from Lord of the Rings Online to the new Civ VII who shared some key takeaways. Here are three that I think apply to indies and solo devs: 1. The needs of a game cannot be predicted using yes or no questions (like in app development). → Predict end goals, work backwards placing check-ins, then start. Check-ins are your green flags in your development marathon. 2. Whack-a-moling problems becomes firefighting and makes you lose perspective. → Slow down this dopamine loop by adding friction to the problem-solving context. Only the reviewer may approve if the assigned goal is done. 3. We succeed when we work together more often than when we don’t. → How might indie and solo teams collaborate for production-like accountability?

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Attention Game Industry friends! Chase C., our new Marketing Manager, is helping us build out and categorize our contact lists as we prepare for not-quite-public announcements toward end of year. If you would like to be included in our "Industry Ally" Mailchimp list, please Like / DM me your email. If you'd like to be included but don't want to receive emails, just Like and I'll add your LinkedIn URL. Looking forward to sharing more and building our alliance! #startuplife #studiolife #entrepreneurship #gameindustry #gamedev

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Normally I'm a huge, huge fan of John Cutler and his newsletter, which you *should* subscribe to if you want to learn how to be an effective dev or PM. However, his missive yesterday is off the mark. What he's observing is 100% a failure of leadership. People can blame the tools all they want, but if you're not creating a culture that supports these principles they go nowhere. https://lnkd.in/gdCg3-VR #PMI #softwaredevelopment #productmanagement #agile

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📣 Hey friends! After a year and a half, 3 rounds of fundraising and building out the design practice at MotherDuck I'm ready for new opportunities! I joined as the Head of Design and the first hire back in fall 2022, and helped shape what design means for the company. I hope you can feel the 'ducking' awesomeness through the product and brand. Now, I'm looking to explore head of design or staff roles in early to growth stage companies and even larger organizations. Can't wait to connect with compassionate founders seeking a design leader versed in UI, UX, IXD, UXR. But first, let me share some startup lessons I've learned over the last 14 years: 1. 🗺️ Have a clear vision A clear vision, articulated and illustrated through design, is a powerful tool. It's the magic that unites your team and customers, helping them SEE where you're going. Design leaders, in sync with the CEO and CPO, can bridge the gap between user expectations and their dream come true. 2. 💎 Quality matters when it matters With limited resources, small teams need to be strategic. A design leader should understand when to focus on the details or backlog them. Foster a culture of experimentation and user feedback. Remember, even as an SME, you might have bias. Listen to your users carefully. 3. 🌟 Lean into your super powers Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is key. If you have the right team, rely on their technical abilities instead of trying to be an expert at everything. It’s tough when you're small, but encourage adaptability and ownership. 4. 📂 Get organized Small messes grow into big ones, which turn into big expenses. Establish clear processes for documentation, meetings, note taking practices and sharing information. Standardize things at the company level and stay organized to scale efficiently. 5. 🤗 Lead with compassion Trust is hard won and easily lost. Leaders who put their ego aside and lead with compassion create a more open culture. Deep relationships, compassion, and a willingness to take a hit for your team will reap rewards in the long run. 6. 🙋 Know your users Get to know your customers and users. Invest time and money in foundational research around their needs and use cases. Share insights and find themes. Eventually, you might have a research function to do this at scale. Until then, let your users lead the way. You'll be amazed at what you learn. 7. 🥳 Have fun If you’re not, you’re not in the right place, find the team that will make you happy, healthy and hoping for more. If you’re constantly stressed, losing sleep, or finding yourself in the hospital for stress induced blood clots then you need to get out. Find partners that get your craft, respect it’s value and hold you up. Life is short, love those around you and make the world a better place. If you’re a compassionate founder with a goal to make amazing things with amazing people let’s design a better world together. https://raphaelhyde.com/

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Having a chat with Simon Bristow the other day, we discussed the idea of Design Debt. It inspired me to write a full article :) What exactly is Design Debt? It’s the buildup of nasty assumptions and misfires that happens when you spend too much time in the lab and not enough time on the street. It’s what happens when your team falls in love with their own ideas, research artefacts and designs, instead of listening to what real users actually want and need in real life. What do you think? https://lnkd.in/gpKiNj9x #Design EverestEngineering

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Numena's Weekly Dev Chat ( Tomorrow, April 24): We're discussing audio interactions currently used inside The Third Pill's "dark levels" and other strategies we're exploring. Link to join our Discord (meeting takes place inside the Liminal Cafe at 1 pm Eastern / 7 pm CET): https://lnkd.in/eP3D8-ZD See you there! ____________ What is this about? This is a series of weekly meetings about The Third Pill, the VR game being developed at NUMENA, and the ideas we are exploring in it (audio-based interactions with no visuals, non-Euclidean spaces, narratives about nested realities, etc.). Project trailer: https://lnkd.in/ec2aPQhh #gamedev #vr #virtualreality

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This one is gonna go down in history as the Chicken Churn! Yesterday we got a colorful inbound message on Intercom from a tester, they were really worked up at a game that made a chicken noise when they didn’t accept a rematch with another player in a PvP game, and they noped right out of a paid playtest! (what an insight!!) Curiosity, bias to action, intuition or whatever you want to call it kicked in and I decided to check out the recording 👀 My own biases of who that player was were totally off, and their reaction in the video didn’t really match up to the message. But sure enough they had asked the community team to be removed from the test. After watching the video I was stunned at how natural that churn point felt, obviously we made the call to pay the player out and sent it to the Erez free of charge (it’s 7 minutes long), then got a lovely email back this morning! When Christian and Marvin onboarded me they made sure to communicate their vision of happy customers and it's great to see this playing out and confirmed! #playtesting #PlaytestCloud #GamesUserResearch #Retention #GameDevelopment #CustomerFirst

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