The Dictatorship

A dictatorship occurs when the head of the team insists that things be his or her way. A common symptom of a dictatorship is a team whose leader considers his fellow teammates "employees," even though he or she isn't paying them. Decisions are made on the "employees'" behalf, reducing them to unpaid cogs in a very badly run machine. Truth is, team members are paid in two main ways: Money, or enjoyment, and if you can't afford to pay in money, you had better make sure that there's more than enough enjoyment to go around. Promising future royalty cuts is NOT the same thing as money; regardless of how great you feel about your team and your idea, the fact is that the odds for failure are so high that royalty cuts are useless.

Which leaves enjoyment. What this really means is that your team members should be your friends. Your team should tackle tough decisions as a group, debate the design document as a group, and share in the grand experience as a group, otherwise, it's really not worth the trouble. Developing games is fun. For some people, it's so much fun that they're willing to work 80 hour weeks for half their potential salary. It's not just fun for the leader – it's fun for everyone. If your team isn't having fun, there's something seriously wrong. Just because you've gathered everyone together doesn't mean that you've got any authority. Team leaders do many things – they organize meetings and keep everyone in sync – but they most certainly do NOT hold any power. The best teams are the ones where everyone is given equal input into things, and where everyone's considered an equal.

But, in some cases, some people are more equal than others (oink). If you've put hard cash in something, you deserve to say where you want your money to go. If I put up $1000, and my team members each chip in $50, then capitalism dictates that I get more say than everyone else. If I buy the snacks for the weekly meeting, I have final say over whether we're drinking Dr Pepper or Coke. These things are easy to spot exceptions to the main rule: in general, the team should make the decisions.

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