Here's how you can lead cross-functional teams to project success as a mid-career game developer.

As a mid-career game developer leading cross-functional teams, I would foster a culture of collaboration, open communication, and shared ownership by setting clear project goals, empowering team members to take ownership of their tasks, and providing regular feedback and support to ensure successful project outcomes.

Even though it's a no-brainer I believe in this completely it's hard to have your web guy doing react and then trying to turn around into a solidity contract best that everybody does what they're what they're good at

Clear roles keep everything on track. Start by defining clear roles for every team member, especially in a cross-functional team. When everyone knows their responsibilities, it reduces confusion and overlaps, allowing for smoother project execution. Game development projects often involve programmers, artists, designers, and more, each bringing something unique to the table. Having clearly defined roles helps ensure that everyone contributes efficiently. I've learned that role clarity is crucial, especially in small teams. Clearly defining who handles what—whether it's AI coding, level design, or asset creation—keeps things organized and avoids stepping on each other’s toes.

As a mid-career game developer, lead cross-functional teams to project success by fostering clear communication and collaboration across departments. Set shared goals and ensure everyone understands their role in achieving them. Use your experience to guide decision-making, mediate conflicts, and align the team’s efforts with the project vision. Regularly check in on progress, provide constructive feedback, and celebrate milestones to keep the team motivated and focused on delivering a high-quality game.

Milestones keep momentum going. Setting clear milestones is key for tracking progress and maintaining focus. Game development can get overwhelming due to its complexity, but breaking tasks down into manageable goals ensures steady progress. These milestones also provide natural checkpoints to assess what's working and what needs adjustment, keeping the project on course. In my experience, creating bi-weekly goals helps keep the project moving forward while allowing time to iterate and make necessary improvements. Hitting these smaller targets builds confidence and keeps everyone motivated.

You absolutely have to have milestones or you get into scope creep. And that will kill a project quicker than anything most important thing is set a goal, hit the goal then move on.

Unity(the word not the game engine ??) in teams leads to better collaboration. Fostering unity among cross-functional teams encourages better collaboration. Different disciplines can sometimes create silos, but as a leader, building bridges between team members is vital. Holding regular team-building activities, encouraging knowledge sharing, and creating a shared vision can go a long way in keeping everyone aligned. Encouraging open collaboration between the programming and art teams has been crucial for us. We regularly hold brainstorming sessions where everyone can offer ideas, which has led to some of our most creative features.

Yes many times we have fun day Fridays where we all get together and just chat laugh a little bit and learn a little bit about each other's culture because we're all from such very backgrounds and so many different countries.

Communication makes or breaks projects. Effective communication is the backbone of any successful game development project. Regular check-ins, updates, and feedback loops keep everyone on the same page. Using project management tools, like Trello or Github projects, ensures that important information is accessible to all and reduces misunderstandings. I’ve found that open communication tools like Discord help bridge the gap between remote and in-office team members. Having one place where everyone can access project updates and discussions is essential for cross-functional teams.

Yes this is a huge issue because most of my devs are not native English speakers I try as hard as I can every time we communicate to ask do you understand give me back some information that I've given you so we're on the same page.

últimamente está muy de moda la palabra "empoderar" y no es lo mismo que motivar, obviamente es muy probable que alguien empoderado esté motivado pero alguien motivado no tiene porque estar empoderado. Para fomentar que alguien "tome la iniciativa y tome decisiones dentro de su dominio" no necesitas empoderarlo lo que necesitas es motivación. El empoderamiento indiscriminado puede tener consecuencias nefastas todo lo contrario a lo que se indica en texto de este punto "...aumenta la moral, sino que también conduce a un equipo más dinámico y comprometido."

Especially when it comes to game development it's always a great idea to get feedback from your own devs are also gamers they love to add in things that they think will be fun you can always take them out of course but it's nice to give them approved to do that.

Everyday if you wake up and you're not learning you're not growing if you're not growing then you're going to die. It's always great to bring up a new way or a new idea in all meetings just to keep people on their toes