Great products need them

• And great teams need them too
• Practicality: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ •
• Theoretical: ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ •

I’ve been part of a dozen teams throughout my career and one of the things that I have learned is that for any product and for any team to be successful, they need to be led by a vision holder. Teams will focus around- and deliver a vision, but to do so they need a person that upholds that vision for the project.

The vision holder does not have to be the lead of the project, and the vision holder doesn’t have to be in charge of the planning, lead the team or be the game’s designer. The vision holder doesn’t even have to be the one who came up with the vision – or the main idea behind the game – although in most cases that will occur more often. The vision holder is the one that understands the vision the clearest and above all beliefs in the vision and the success it will bring.

Creating a game is difficult and creating a game with a team is even more difficult. It is a lengthy and more often than not a very messy process.The more senior each member of the team is, the more demanding the job of the vision holder becomes. Experience more often than not feeds doubt. The wiser you are, the harder it is to be courageous. 

During each phase of development doubts arise and doubters appear who will challenge the project for its existence. Are we addressing the right audience? Did we choose the right theme? Is this gameplay fun enough? How will we ever monetize this? And when the game is in the midst of development, who will answer the questions? I hear some people thinking, “Data will give you these answers” but data can only be measured after the fact and these doubts and doubters will arise even before something can be measured.

The belief of the vision holder needs to be so strong that despite rational counter arguments from team members, despite upper management and stakeholders not being able to fully embrace the vision and despite data showing limited potential they can still make the case for this game.

Although the vision holder is often confused with the “person who has an idea”, they are very different. The person who has the idea is of way lesser value to the team and the project and they can be easily distinguished from the vision holder. The person who has an idea will defend the idea and will seek to make the idea in the exact manner as they envision the idea, however, the vision holder works differently.

The vision holder is very open, open to new ideas, open to feedback and improvements. Vision holders grab every opportunity to make the vision a reality, but also take every opportunity to make it better. They will inspect critique meticulously, dissect it and embark on discussion in order to understand the problems and make sure they address the raised issues.

No matter the data, no matter the talent or seniority of the team, no matter the formality of any process, proceeding with a game project as it goes through the different phases will in large parts come down to gut feeling. The belief in the vision.

It is during the doubts of senior management whether or not to continue investing in the project, that the need for a vision holder becomes apparent. It is during the rational rants of that senior team member that expresses doubt about the theme midway through development, that the need for a vision holder becomes apparent. It is during that soft launch period where the data seems to be showing that this is going nowhere, that the need for a vision holder becomes apparent. The vision holder will explain, present, defend and counter any logic and still pursue what they believe in. They will go through all adversity and move the game forwards towards the vision.

Great products are not easy and they are only recognized by the masses in hindsight. It is the vision holder that recognizes the greatness in foresight.