A minimalist company management framework for indies, with implementation instructions.
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“You do not rise to the level of your ambitions. You fall to the level of your systems.” —James Clear
After more than 14 years in the games industry, I've come to believe that most indie companies are more like project groups than they are actual companies.
You’re a small group of likeminded individuals, all that matters is that the game gets finished, and you really don’t have to bother with most of the additional management hassle that comes with running a more fully fledged company.
I still think that’s mostly true, but I also think there are a best practices indie devs can borrow from the world of management that will increase their odds of long-term success.
After all, you still need to have a shared understanding of where you’re going, what you’re doing to get there, and solve problems along the way. These things are bigger than the game you’re working on, and they still need to be managed.
The easiest way to do so is to use the FIRM framework, which will let you run your company in less than 90 minutes per week using just two one-page documents.
The core of all management is to create focus, alignment and accountability. This is the smallest possible framework I’ve managed to make that still lets you do all three.
Future is vision, both long term and shorter term, your plans for the year
Issues is a big shared list of any issues you come across, so all the cards are on the table