The document outlines Rocket Games' culture, emphasizing the importance of shared values, specifically the '4 Ps': people, process, products, and profit, to create a sustainable competitive advantage. It highlights the significance of nurturing a positive culture to foster employee empowerment and continuous improvement in processes while prioritizing customer satisfaction through high-quality products. Ultimately, the company's mission is to build an enduring games business that balances creative game-making with profitability.

1. THE ROCKET
GAMES
CULTUREWho we are
and what we want to be

2. Culture is a set of shared behaviors,
symbols, systems, practices and norms.
What is
CULTURE? beliefs, values working language,

3. Once a culture has formed, it is hard to change.
Whether you plan for it or not.
And culture spreads. It is generational,
and is passed on to new employees.
Culture
HAPPENS.

4. IF YOU DON’T MANAGE
YOUR CULTURE, YOUR
CULTURE MANAGES
YOU.

5. The best organizations understand that
culture can be the most sustainable
source of competitive advantage.COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE.

6. CULTURE
eats strategy for breakfast.
PETER DRUCKER

7. To make our
CUSTOMERS
happy we have to make sure our
EMPLOYEES
are happy first.
ZAPPOS

8. OUR GOAL IS TO
NURTURE A CULTURE
THAT CAN SERVE AS A
GUIDE ON OUR LONG-
TERM MISSION.

9. A bit of who we’d like to be.
A bit of who we are.
This document is
US.

10. A people without the knowledge of their past
history, origins and culture
is like a tree without
ROOTS.
MARCUS GARVEY

11. WE’RE PLANTING THE
SEED FOR THOSE
ROOTS TODAY.

12. OUR MISSION IS TO BUILD AN
ENDURING
GAMES
BUSINESS

13. mission, and reinforces our shared values.
Culture orients us towards our long-term
What role does
CULTURE
play?

14. What do we value?VALUE?

15. We value the 4 Ps.4 Ps.

16. PEOPLE.
PROCESS.PRODUCTS.
PROFIT.

17. THE 4 Ps MAKE (OUR)
WORLD GO ROUND.

18. PEOPLE.
Only hire the best. Continue to invest in them.
It all starts with great people.
Empower our people, and give them autonomy to operate.
1.

19. PROCESS.
Eliminate wasteful practices.
Develop the right processes to maximize productivity.
Continually improve by questioning the “why?”
2.

20. PRODUCTS.
Build games our customers will love.
Build the right games for the right markets.
3.

21. PROFIT.
Develop and operate each game we make profitably.
Balance creative appetite with business needs.
Re-invest profits for the long-term success of the business.
4.

22. THE 4 Ps SERVE AS THE
SHARED LENS
THROUGH WHICH WE
VIEW THE WORLD.

23. PEOPLE.
PROCESS.PRODUCTS.
PROFIT.

24. 1PEOPLE
We want to work with great

25. What makes someone a great person?
What makes someone great for Rocket Games?
But what are
GREAT
PEOPLE?

26. Great people are
diverse and complex.
3
But there are
traits in particular that we look for.

27. IMPACTFUL.
An impactful person gets stuff done.
An impactful person focuses on results.
An impactful person always finds a way.
Personality trait #1:

28. Despite famously acknowledging that
he “invented nothing new,”
Henry Ford’s undeniable impact
was far-ranging. By 1918, half of all cars
in America were Model Ts. At the same time,
Ford was a pioneer of
“welfare capitalism,”
doubling worker wages and introducing
the 40-hour week, making car
ownership accessible to factory workers.
He even had time to found the
Kingsford Company, making charcoal from
factory waste wood scrap, which to this
day enjoys 80% market share
in the US!

29. A humble person speaks of the “we,” not the “I.”
A humble person admits mistakes and learns from them.
A humble person shares the credit.
HUMBLE.
Personality trait #2:

30. If I have seen further than others,
it is by standing on
the shoulders of
GIANTS.
ISAAC NEWTON

31. A curious person pursues activities that improve body & mind.
A curious person takes smart risks.
A curious person is always asking “what if?”
CURIOUS.
Personality trait #3:

32. There are
KNOWN KNOWNS.
These are things we know that we know. There are
DONALD RUMSFELD
KNOWN UNKNOWNS.
That is to say, there are things we know we don’t know. But there are also
UNKNOWN UNKNOWNS.
There are things that we don’t know we don’t know.

33. Curious people relish in figuring out the
unknown unknowns.
FIGURING OUT

34. Curious people thrive outside
their comfort zone.COMFORT ZONE.

35. A ship in a harbor is safe.
SHIPS ARE BUILT FOR.
But that is not what
UNKNOWN

36. We like interesting people.INTERESTING

37. We want to work with people who have a lot of interests
OUTSIDE OF WORK.
People do better work when they
have lives of their own.

38. We don’t tolerate
BRILLIANT
JERKS.

39. The wrong people are
TOXIC TO CULTURE.
A toxic culture will cause your best people to leave.

40. And when your best people leave, that
KILLS THE COMPANY.

41. Never
COMPROMISE
on people.
Hiring the wrong person is 10X
more expensive than not hiring the right person.

42. And talking about 10X…10X…

43. In procedural work, the best are
2X
NETFLIX CULTURE DECK
better than the average.
In creative/inventive work, the best are
10X

44. Great people need to be empowered. And
empowerment means trust.
EMPOWERED.
TRUST.

45. TRUST
goes both ways.
For great people to reach their full potential,
you need to trust them 100%.
And they need to trust that you will allow them to
do their jobs. And remove obstacles in their way.

46. WHAT ARE THESE
OBSTACLES?

47. Recognize
some of
THESE?
Unnecessary meetings, too many
Arbitrary manager approvals, MVPs designed
Pointless policies, forms to fill in, TPS reports.
decision-makers, email justifications.
for execs instead of customers.

48. WE PREFER TO DO
WORK RATHER THAN
TALK (OR WRITE)
ABOUT IT.

49. If you could just go ahead
and do that
BILL LUMBERGH
from now on, that’d be great,
mmmkay?

50. Do the
RIGHT
THING.
That’s our only policy.
Do what’s best for the customer.
Do what’s best for the company.
Do what’s best for your team.

51. Make
GOOD
MISTAKES.
Don’t try to avoid failure.
Instead, embrace it.
Fail fast, fail often, and learn.

52. Great people need to be informed.INFORMED.

53. The more you
KNOW. We believe employees make the best decisions
when they have all the available information.
We believe employees feel more empowered
when they understand why we do what we do.

54. A lack of
TRANSPARENCY
DALAI LAMA
results in
DISTRUST
and a deep sense of
INSECURITY.

55. That is why we make pretty much every bit of
information about the company available to
everyone at the company.
INFORMATION AVAILABLE

56. PEOPLE.
PROCESS.PRODUCTS.
PROFIT.

57. 2PROCESS
We value the right

58. OK! Great people, trusted, empowered and
informed, where now?WHERE NOW?
OK!

59. Do not seek to follow in the footsteps
of the wise.
Seek
what
they
SOUGHT.
MATSUO BASHO

60. Seek to
understand the
WHY.
“Why” is such a powerful little word.

61. QUESTIONING
As children, we are constantly
the world around us.

62. But as we grow up, we
stop questioning.STOP QUESTIONING.

63. And we start to accept that the answer is
“just because.”“JUST BECAUSE.”

64. We start to accept the
status quo.STATUS QUO.

65. We believe it is
never
“JUST
BECAUSE.”
We believe you should always question the status quo.
We believe you should always question “why?”

66. Only by challenging the status quo
can we get better.
CHALLENGING

67. (Seriously. The definition of status quo is
“the existing state of affairs.”)
SERIOUSLY.

68. I go to the past for research.
I need to know what came before so I can
BREAK THE RULES.
VERA WANG

69. “BEST
PRACTICES”
aren’t always
that.
Each product is unique. Each market is unique.
Understanding why something worked somewhere else
is much more important than imitating it.
Each team is unique.

70. He who stops being better
stops being
GOOD.
OLIVER CROMWELL

71. Only through continuous improvement at the
individual level can the entire organization
stay nimble enough to navigate change.
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

72. And as we all know…

73. The only constant is
CHANGE.
HERACLITUS

74. In a changing market, it is critical to know
which direction to head in.WHICH DIRECTION

75. There is nothing so
USELESS
PETER DRUCKER
as doing efficiently that which should not
BE DONE AT ALL.

76. This is why we try to work lean.LEAN.

77. What does
LEANreally mean?
Lean software development is an adaptation of
lean manufacturing principles, based on the
It is designed to eliminate waste
Toyota Production System.
through continuous improvement.

78. Lean development adheres to 7 key principles.7 KEY PRINCIPLES.

79. Anything that does not add customer value is waste.
Unnecessary functionality is waste. Managerial overhead is waste.
Defects and lower quality are waste.
ELIMINATE WASTE.
Lean principle 1 of 7:

80. We hold regular retrospectives to identify and
eliminate waste from our processes, in order
to continually improve the products we put in
the hands of our customers.
Lean principle 1 of 7:
ELIMINATE WASTE.

81. Minimum viable product Unnecessary functionality = waste*
*Sure, it is sweet, sweet waste. But waste nonetheless.

82. AMPLIFY LEARNING.
Development is a journey in discovery to see what works, while production is
Development is like creating a recipe while production is like making the dish.
an exercise in reducing variability.
Lean principle 2 of 7:

83. We believe that practice makes perfect and
that the best products are built when their
creators iterate and learn from what
customers love.
Lean principle 2 of 7:
AMPLIFY LEARNING.

84. We are what we repeatedly do.
EXCELLENCE,
ARISTOTLE
then, is not an act, but a
HABIT.

85. 3-Michelin star restaurant El Bulli was only open 6 months
of the year. The other 6 months were spent
by chef Ferran Adria devising, practicing and perfecting
the following season’s recipes.

86. DECIDE AS LATE AS POSSIBLE.
Lean principle 3 of 7:
The best decisions are based on fact, not speculation.
The longer you wait to commit, the more information you have.
Conversely, the earlier you commit, the less flexible you can be.

87. DECIDE AS LATE AS POSSIBLE.
Lean principle 3 of 7:
We build the capacity for change into our
systems and processes, and try to keep as
many options open as possible.

88. The Empire probably committed a little
TOO SOON
to their flawed design. Not a lot of
OPTIONS
left here.

89. DELIVER AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.
Lean principle 4 of 7:
Speed is critical for learning – the shorter the feedback loops, the more
can be learned and the better our decision-making.
Speed also assures that customers get what they need now,
not what they needed yesterday.

90. DELIVER AS FAST AS POSSIBLE.
Lean principle 4 of 7:
Our approach is informed by data (but not
driven by it), and we strive to get better and
better products in the hands of customers
quickly, regularly, and at high quality.

91. Blockbuster, failing to realize it was in the video
DISTRIBUTION business and not the video STORE
business, could not compete when
Netflix was able to deliver products to customers
FASTER, CHEAPER
and more
CONVENIENTLY.

92. EMPOWER THE TEAM.
Lean principle 5 of 7:
World-class execution lies in getting the details right.
And only those closest to the product have all the details.
We hire the best people and let them get on with their jobs.

93. EMPOWER THE TEAM.
Lean principle 5 of 7:
We use “pull” techniques to coordinate work
from within the team, rather than employing
managers to “push” orders from above.

94. The symbol of lean manufacturing, the andon cord
EMPOWERS
(or button)
all employees, especially those
closest to the product, to take ownership over
QUALITY.

95. BUILD INTEGRITY IN.
Lean principle 6 of 7:
When a customer squeals with joy and shouts, “Yes! That’s exactly what I
wanted, how did they know?” – that’s perceived integrity.
When your software scales and evolves gracefully with customers and time –
that’s conceptual integrity.

96. BUILD INTEGRITY IN.
Lean principle 6 of 7:
We try to maintain integrity, both perceived
and conceptual, by focusing on customer
needs, keeping things simple and eliminating
waste wherever we find it.

97. HOW SPOTIFY BUILDS PRODUCTS
NOT LIKE THIS
LIKE THIS
HOW SPOTIFY BUILDS PRODUCTS
Not like this
Like this!

98. SEE THE WHOLE.
Lean principle 7 of 7:
The whole is always more than the sum of its parts.
But it is only natural to highlight your own team, or push your
own agenda ahead of others.

99. SEE THE WHOLE.
Lean principle 7 of 7:
We try to optimize for the whole, think for the
long-term, and prioritize
CUSTOMER > COMPANY > TEAM > SELF.

100. Some of the ingredients might be nice
on their own
but
we’d
rather
eat
CAKE.

101. PEOPLE.
PROCESS.PRODUCTS.
PROFIT.

102. 3PRODUCTS
We want our customers to love our

103. We are all
GAMERS. We hate sucky games.
We hate games that sell you too hard.
We hate games that were designed by committee.

104. Choose a job you love, and you will
NEVER WORK
CONFUCIUS
a day in your life.

105. We try to treat our customers with
respect.RESPECT.

106. Only one other industry call its
CUSTOMERS
UNKNOWN
USERS –
drug dealers.

107. We are
CUSTOMER
CENTRIC.
The term “users” is so abstract.
We prefer the term “players.”
Or, simply, “customers.”

108. We like the term “customer” because it implies
a formal relationship, and an expectation that
we deliver value.VALUE.
FORMAL RELATIONSHIP,

109. The best
GAMES,
made by
GAMERS.
We obsess over customers, not competitors.
We listen to customer feedback.
We act on customer feedback.

110. We are our own customers. And we are our own
harshest critics.
OWN CUSTOMERS.

111. Keep in mind what’s interesting to you as an
AUDIENCE,
PIXAR’S RULES OF STORYTELLING
not what’s fun to do as a
WRITER.
They can be very different.

112. We try to anticipate
what the customer wants.
ANTICIPATE

113. You need to get to the
FUTURE
MARC BENIOFF
and be ready to greet them when they
ARRIVE.
ahead of your customers,

114. This is a Golden Age for gaming.GOLDEN AGE

115. WHERE OUR
CUSTOMERS PLAY
GAMES IS CHANGING
RAPIDLY.

116. HOW OUR CUSTOMERS
PLAY GAMES IS
CHANGING RAPIDLY.

117. And we want to be where the
CUSTOMER
is.
We embrace new platforms.
We embrace new form factors.
We constantly try new things.

118. We are platform- agnostic.PLATFORM-

119. WE DON’T PLACE
BOUNDARIES ON
OURSELVES.

120. And how do we know if our
customers love us?
KNOW

121. They tell us.TELL US.

122. I was really losing all hope in finding
any honest, fair, not greedy devs
on here & you proved me wrong!
I would buy
things from them,
because they aren't
stingy with treating
me well.
I think I may have found
my new favorite
pastime.
Game is awesome,
great
graphics.
No glitches, its fast-paced fun and addicting
and doesn't rip you off.
Awesome sauce!Fun &
refreshingly
different.
I would recommend this game along with all other Rocket Games.
Customer Support is
fabulous.

123. PEOPLE.
PROCESS.PRODUCTS.
PROFIT.

124. 4PROFIT
This is not a dirty word.

125. Our mission is to build an enduring games
business, that will outlast any of us.BUSINESS,

126. So how will we
ENDURE? We need to balance great game-making
with the business of game-making.

127. But all too often “profit” used in conjunction
with creative works (like games) is treated like
a dirty word.DIRTY WORD.
“PROFIT”

128. IT’S A BALANCING ACT.

129. We treat our games like
INVESTMENTS,
on which we
expect to make a
RETURN.
They take capital to make.
They take time to make.
They might succeed or fail.

130. And just like investing, we believe the best way
to approach game-making as a business is to
diversify our portfolio.PORTFOLIO.DIVERSIFY

131. NEVER PUT ALL YOUR
EGGS IN ONE BASKET.

132. Every portfolio benefits from
BONDS,
SUZE ORMAN
they provide a cushion when the stock market
STOCKS
hits a rough patch. But avoiding
completely could mean your investment won’t
grow any faster than inflation.

133. We want to build a
BALANCED
PORTFOLIO.
A mix of long and short, risky and safe.
The more experience we develop, the bigger
the investments we are prepared to make.

134. PRACTICE
makes
PERFECT.
The more games we make,
the better we get at making games.

135. To become a chess grandmaster also seems to take about 10 years.
MALCOLM GLADWELL
And what’s 10 years?
Well, it’s roughly how long it takes to put in
10,000 HOURS
OF HARD PRACTICE.
10,000 hours is the magic number.

136. So to recap…

137. OUR MISSION IS TO BUILD AN
ENDURING
GAMES
BUSINESS

138. To do that we believe you need great people
and the right processes to make world-class
products that generate a profit.
PROCESSES
PRODUCTS PROFIT.
PEOPLE

139. THE 4 Ps MAKE (OUR)
WORLD GO ROUND.

140. And our shared values can foster a culture
that serves as a guide on our mission.

141. PEOPLE.
PROCESS.PRODUCTS.
PROFIT.

142. PLEASE CONTACT US!
culture@rocketgames.com
@rocketgames

143. WE WERE DEEPLY INSPIRED BY:
The Netflix Culture Deck (Patty McCord & Reed Hastings)
The Hubspot Culture Code Deck (Dharmesh Shah)
How Spotify Builds Products (Henrik Kniberg)
Buffer’s radical transparency
The Toyota Way
The Valve Employee Handbook
“Certain to Win” (Chet Richards)
“Lean Software Development” (Mary and Tom Poppendieck)
“The Lean Startup” (Eric Ries)