Last summer, I had an opportunity working as a Game Product Manager at EA Sports’ NBA Live Mobile Team, designing the true authentic NBA experience for users to make their NBA journeys more unforgettable.
Due to the NDA and respect to the team, I will not be disclosing the project details here but sharing some lessons that I learned.
Time
May 2019 – Aug 2019
Deliverables
- PRD
- Data Telemetry Design
- Feature/User Research Reports
- Game Teardowns
- User Interviews
- GPM Onboarding Documents
- Stakeholder Presentation
Teams Worked With
PM, Data Science, Game Design, Artist, Engineering, Marketing, Core PM,
Team and Role
NBA Live Mobile, EA Tiburon
Game Product Manager Intern
Product Management at EA Sports
At EA Sports, my understanding of the Game Product Manager is a person who is capable of communicating to all team members, a Babel fish, in a fast-paced environment. You have to learn how to influence without authority, communicate well, and trust other’s expertise. Unlike different roles where responsibilities are clearly outlined, one of my first challenges was to come up with a plan that tackles a solvable pain point. After getting enough knowledge of the team and the product, I defined my role as:
1. Developing gameplay improvement ideas through internal stakeholder interviews and observations
2. Validating ideas through a full spectrum of business, technical, and user inspection to find the most cost-effective concept within the timeframe
3. Co-developing detailed product requirements and implementation plan with a cross-functional team consisted of game designers, product managers, data scientists, engineers, and artists by iterations of research
Takeaway #1: Have a bias towards action
The hardest step would be taking the initiative to transform the team from 0, where nothing has happened yet, to 1 in which the team was motivated to take the next big challenge. In order to influence without authority, product managers need to have a bias towards action
After working on my capstone project for weeks, I was surprised how team members changed their perspectives towards my project. In the beginning, it was hard to find allies because everyone has his/her priorities to finish. However, everything changed when I took the initiative to do whatever needed to finish the project. I conducted my own user research, reached out to teams in London, and leveraged all the resources not only inside my team but also inside the whole company to facilitate the product thinking process. More and more team members contributed to the projects after witnessing my effort. Do whatever it takes.
Takeaway #2: Be a Babel Fish
Working with game developers and artists is like working with a band of rockstars. Anybody that has never been an artist or a game developer will see a conflict between the two disciplines. Therefore, a good product manager has to speak competently with all disciplines and utilize communication to build trust as trust is the foundation of getting everybody on board, understanding shared priorities, the alignment of the bigger picture. Being the babel fish of the team help the team cohesive
Takeaway #3: Set priorities, always
Product managers always a list of to-do. With limited resources, product managers have to constantly compromise for the greater good and thrive with an ambiguous environment. Setting priorities can help product managers create strategies that can benefit the team both in the short-term and in the long-term. Setting priorities also means to focus on something that you have committed as priorities should not change often.
Takeaway #4: For the Greater Good
Working with game developers and artists is like working with a band of rockstars. Anybody that has never been an artist or a game developer will see a conflict between the two disciplines. Therefore, a good product manager has to speak competently with all disciplines and utilize communication to build trust as trust is the foundation of getting everybody on board, understanding shared priorities, the alignment of the bigger picture. Being the babel fish of the team help the team cohesive
