Nearly every adult has had a boss. Many people have been a boss. Yet so few people have thought about what it means to be a good boss beyond the superficial. What makes a good boss? What role do they play in the work lives (and lives!) of the people they manage? Ben and Aaron start off the podcast with a debate about what should make bosses tick, then explore two of their people management pillars: Growth and Integrity. If you're looking for some controversial statements, take a listen!

Content pipelines! There's little info about them outside of the game industry, and even within it we tend to view them as some reductionist and step by step repeatable process, a machine you shove artists and writers and designers into to get 'game art stuff' out the other end. In this podcast we talk to @David Klaus, an Agile Coach and former producer who led one of the most profitable teams in the history of game development, to talk about how you lead, serve, and support developers as they make fantastic and useful art.

It's our first episode of Season 2! We've renamed ourselves Building Better Games, and we're going to start by talking about the importance of maintaining a connection between game devs, the game they're making, and the audience. Get ready to talk about playtests, product thinking, and player empathy. Enjoy!

In episode 19, @Ryan Scott joins Ben and Aaron to talk about Game Design. The conversation ranges from what makes a good game designer, to the relationship between product leadership and design, then over to modern trends and a shared skepticism of NFT-oriented games. Hope you enjoy it!

What is 'Holistic Leadership'? In this episode, Aaron and Ben talk about what it means to be a leader and operating at more than just the process layer. They discuss how leadership and management are different, which do we most often see, and what do we need more of in the modern world? Take a listen if you're trying to improve your leadership capability and feeling stuck. Hope you enjoy!

Over and over we run into orgs that want help with 'the process'. Over and over we do a little bit of exploration and discover that the org's issues reside at a deeper 'level'. In this podcast, we walk through the three layers (Culture, Product, and Process) and talk about how so often leaders are focusing all their efforts on the layer where they can have the least long-term positive impact. Check it out, and let us know what you think!

"Product Management" is everywhere in technology. Wherever you're working there is a need to understand what we're trying to do and where we're trying to go. The role is ubiquitous, it is crucial, and it is also undeniably difficult to do well. In this episode, Aaron and Ben bring Darko Vukovic to the podcast. Darko's an ex-Riot/Google/Oracle PM who has led teams, products, and other product managers in a variety of environments. The discussion ranges from what a product manager is supposed to be doing, how do we get sidetracked, and what younger product managers can do to set themselves apart. There's a lot in this one, enjoy!

We often hear leaders lament a lack of 'accountability' around organizations. It's commonly discussed, usually when something has gone wrong. But what is accountability? Why is it not present when people seem to want it so badly? How do you set it up? In this podcast, Ben and Aaron explore the topic, walking through what accountability is, why we get it wrong, and how to set it up for yourself and those you lead. Hope you enjoy!

For this episode we got to sit down with an old friend - Andrew Brownell. He's spent years as a designer and product lead in AAA studios like Riot, Red 5, and Boundless. Included are crucial lessons on getting yourself unstuck, the social nature of design, and incorporating learning into your development approach. Brilliant guy and we had a blast.