What is a producer responsible for?
Alexander Shtachenko
- Hall:
- Business Track
While reading a course on producing, hiring product specialists for projects, I faced difficulties in understanding processes, tasks and areas of responsibility. In this report I would like to tell you about the producer's areas of responsibility using examples.
What the talk is about
Alexander Shtachenko explains what a producer (product specialist) is responsible for in a game project. He names three areas: the project's vision (market, audience, competitors), its success and goals, including financial results and return on investment, and product quality, which should not be handed off to others because the quality bar is set by the market in the product's niche. He then lists the skills needed: planning, prioritization, a living backlog, communication, knowledge of the genre, metrics, game design, technology and trends. On experience, he stresses shipping and cancelling products, global launch, scaling, live operations and stakeholder management. He warns about the conflict of interest when one person combines the producer and project manager roles. Useful for aspiring producers, game designers moving into the role, and those hiring.