E69: How Product Thinking Can Help Your Game with John Cutler

Welcome to another episode of Building Better Games! Today, we are thrilled to have John Cutler, a capable and experienced product leader with a background in tech (with some game development and music thrown in). John will share his insights on fostering a healthy product culture, maintaining vision, and avoiding common pitfalls in the industry.

Key Points:

John Cutler's Journey:

• Started with a video game studio.
• Transitioned from music to software product management.
• Writes, consults, and leads product organizations.

Product Thinking:

• Importance of product managers alongside talented designers and engineers.
• Focus on product viability and market fit.
• Balancing craft excellence with overall vision

Diminishing Returns:

• Maintain momentum while ensuring quality.
• Internal motivation is key for team success.

Role of Product Managers:

• Act as partners, not overseers.
• Importance of involvement in daily standups and retrospectives.

Leadership and Culture:

• Create environments fostering creativity and coherence.
• Address issues harming team dynamics and productivity.

Feature Factory Approach:

• Avoid treating development as a feature factory.
• Focus on sustainable growth and internal culture.

Complex Adaptive Systems:

• Balance process-centric and variable approaches.
• Embrace uncertainty as an opportunity.

Ideal Prioritization:

• Effective prioritization is crucial.
• Example of a CTO refocusing by deleting the backlog.

Aspiring Product Managers:

• Key traits: curiosity, problem-solving, team orientation.
• Gain hands-on experience before diving into product management.

Culture and Leadership:

• Leadership behaviors impact performance and creativity.
• Address performance asymmetries within teams.

Thanks for joining us! We explored John's journey, highlighting the importance of a healthy product culture and clear vision. John provided advice on the role of product managers, effective prioritization, and fostering creativity within teams.

 

Don't forget to subscribe and hit the notification bell for more episodes. Your feedback and support are greatly appreciated, and we look forward to bringing you more valuable content. See you next time!

 

To learn more about John Cutler:

 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpcutler/

 

Twitter: https://x.com/johncutlefish

 

Newsletter: cutlefish.substack.com

 

Our discord community is live! Join here to engage with leaders and producers in game dev looking to make our industry a better place that makes better games: https://discord.gg/ySCPS5aMcQ

 

If you’re interested in an online course on becoming a better game producer, head here: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg/succeeding-in-game-production

 

Subscribe to our newsletter for more game development tips and resources: https://www.buildingbettergames.gg/newsletter

 

Ben's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-carcich/

 

YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@buildingbettergames