What makes a good manager?

FireSttorm

What do you think makes a good game project art manager? Or what are some of the things that has made your previous managers bad or good?
Whether it's part designer, art leader, even mod leader, or just some commerce graduate.
I've only been active in the industry for a bit now, but it seems like the usual manager techniques and training can't be applied to something like game art. On one side you can't give too much direction without getting annoying and coming out with something boring thats lacking creativity, but you don't want to have the artist constantly reworking the art to fit.

Ferg

make logical decisions based on more than just your personal preference. I don't know how many times I've bitched, or heard friends bitch, about decisions made by their bosses to switch software or do things a certain way solely because that's how the boss did it at their last job. They make things harder for everyone else just to make things a little easier for themselves. Meh.

Daz

You're making an assumption that an Art director and an Art manager are one and the same thing. Whilst that used to be true, and often still is, it's increasingly not so.
Most of the Art managers at the big companies aren't directing Art, just scheduling and dealing with the people stuff, so that the AD can concentrate on the task at hand, directing the look of the Art.
Whilst it frees up the AD from more managerial tasks, the newer model can have its problems too, since the Art manager and Art director have to meet somewhere in the middle of quality versus time spent.

The big problems I experienced at a certain large company usually stemmed from the Art managers not having an Art background at all, and thus lacked the knowledge to make the scheduling and other decisions that they were making.

dnorth

To me, one quality of a good art manager is knowing how to say "no". A less experienced art manager may always say yes to whatever an exec asks for because it makes the manager feel like he's doing a good job, even though the exec may have no idea how long the change will take. This of course can really impact scheduling, throw the team into a needless crunch, etc. A good art manager will find out from the artists how long a change or task will take, find multiple compromises if necessary, and then present the issue as Solution A will cost you so many days, Solution B will cost less, etc.

Malekyth

Very much agreed! Saying "no" is OK, but saying "yes, but this is how much it'll cost; can we afford that?" is better.

I think exec ignorance of art issues is pretty understandable, this being a variable and slightly arcane field where even the artists in the trenches can sometimes fail to make accurate estimates. A manager with practical knowledge that the high-ups lack, and a deeper interest in keeping the project on track than giving false hopes and assurances, is golden.

Eric Chadwick

Having been a bit of both in my career, I'd say one thing that helps me manage others better is to constantly keep my mind on the big picture, not to let my natural artist tendency get into noodling away on the smaller details.

Let the artists have some leeway in their work so they don't feel like they're being prodded all the time. Also helps them feel some ownership and pride in their work.

Focus on the big issues, and explain my decisions as to why you can't have eight 2048 textures on this one asset alone.

Give the artists some idea of the pressures I have to manage, then let them know they don't have to deal with it. No really. I think it helps when management isn't just a series of unexplained decisions. When people are given the knowledge behind decisions, they tend to understand why that change needs to be done.

Unless you're a sucky manager that doesn't have good reasons for the changes, but that's the whole point. Forces me to be a better manager because I know I might need to explain to the artist why the decision is being made.

Listening is also a big one. When artists are given some of the issues behind a change, they often make suggestions to try and fix the root of the problem, which either leads the manager to expose more root info, or to be exposed themselves to some new solutions.

Try not to switch an artist mid-task to an altogether different task. Artists (and coders too) get into a work groove. Halting that mid-stream not only causes the initial task to take longer due to the time for getting back into that groove, but it's also a big a morale killer.

I could go on and on. Good management is tough. I think we've had some other good threads about this topic, I'll try and dig some up.

Eric Chadwick

makin ' moves

Development Cycle Watermark

art direction versus productivity (archived this one from the old messageboard, my nick used to be "posm")

JO420

1.Honosty,if you have bad news you have to tell a team freaking tell them and dont try to hide it from the team. That breeds distrust

2. Even handedness Be flexible when you need to,take the piss out of someone when they deserve it.

3. accountability being able to own up to their own mistakes

4.hope to new ideas

5.leads by example

Malus

Support. Your role is one off support, you are there to enable the people you hire to give you there best.
I like to think of myself as the ammo runner for the poor bastards in the trenches. lol

Buffer. You take the shit and stress so they don't have too.

Honesty. Don't lie, even to yourself, if you need to tell your superiors it can't be done that way or in that time frame have the eggs to do so. If you need to tell a worker to step the fuck up, do that too.

Responsibility. The buck stops with you not your team, never, ever blame your team, even when they fuck up it's you who allowed it to happen.

Praise. Give credit when it's due and don't take credit for your team.

I could go one for ages but these are some of the believes I lead by and I've really felt a great connection with the guys in my team.