Mike Acton discusses managing technical direction as the Engine Director at Insomniac Games. He outlines five key aspects: confidence, cost, commitment, conflict, and cooperation. For each aspect, he provides examples of challenges he has faced and rules of thumb he uses. He also discusses how he approaches trade-offs between risks and rewards for each aspect. The talk aims to share his experience and perspective on difficult issues in technical leadership.

1. Technical Direction
Communication, ROI and Triage
MIKE ACTON (ENGINE DIRECTOR, INSOMNIAC GAMES)
@MIKE_ACTON

2. Why?
1. Nothing really new
2. Only my experience
3. Only my perspective
4. Things I’ve learned

3. My experience
1. 10+ yr Engine Director @
Insomniac Games
2. See the problems…
3. …to the end.

4. Why this talk?
1. Very hard to talk about!
2. Clichés and The Obvious
3. The Gap

5. Your easy to remember “take
away”
0x999990

6. What does it mean to manage
technical direction (for me)?

7. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context

8. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
a. Example
b. Risk profile
c. Hard for me
d. Training

9. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
a. Example
b. Risk profile
c. Hard for me
d. Training
What it means to me; Rules of thumb.

10. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Example)

11. “PM is making unrealistic
schedules!”
Confidence

12. Schedules are only about
confidence.
Confidence

13. Schedules are only about
confidence.
Ask: What would you need to
feel confident about this
project/system/feature/etc.?
Confidence

14. 80/50 Rule
Confidence

15. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Example)

16. “You can’t know how long it’s going
to take to solve a problem you
haven’t solved before!”
Cost

17. If you don’t know how much it’s
worth, you don’t know enough
to work on it.
Cost

18. Development vs. Research
problems. Have a cost profile.
E.g. 80/20
Cost

19. Development problems: Have
an expected return.
E.g. 5:1
Cost

20. Build vs. Buy: Have a function.
E.g. Can we create a
competitive advantage by
knowing our context better
than anyone else?
Cost

21. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Example)

22. Q: “Can we do X?”
A1: “Well it depends… on the art,
design, animation, etc., etc.”
A2: “Well anything is possible…”
Commitment

23. Always “lots of variables.” Don’t
hedge.
People don’t need a probability table,
they need to know what they can plan
around.
Commitment

24. What are you willing to stake your
reputation/job on?
Commitment

25. What would you be proud to say you
did five years from now?
Commitment

26. Choices aren’t forever.
But 10 years is a pretty good bet.
Commitment

27. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Example)

28. 1. How do you not be like Uber?
2. “I don’t want to work with that guy
anymore! He’s always so abrasive!”
Conflict

29. Put process to protect people from
my biases, when they conflict with
my values.
Conflict

30. Need to represent the company well
– What does the company stand for?
E.g. “To be a force for good.”
Conflict

31. If someone thinks there is a problem,
there is a problem. Even if it’s “just” a
perception problem.
Conflict

32. Accountability: Prepared to accept
the cost to fix mistakes that affect
others.
Conflict

33. Conflict cockroaches.
Insidious, stubborn, and very, very
hard to kill completely.
Conflict

34. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Example)

35. 1. “It’s not working because they’re
not using the tool/engine/system
correctly!”
2. “I had to rewrite it because they
couldn’t tell me what they wanted!”
Cooperation

36. Surprise is the enemy.
Every day find a way to make
something more boring.
Cooperation

37. 80% of the thing is selling the thing
1. Know what people say they want
2. Paint a picture for the future you’re
selling
Cooperation

38. Super boring: Roadmap
1Q
2Y
5Y
Cooperation

39. Every feature needs a user-side
champion.
Cooperation

40. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
a. Example
b. Risk profile
c. Hard for me
d. Training
How I approach the trade-offs.

41. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Risk profile)

42. > Not doing anything interesting.
< Not getting anything done.
Confidence

43. > Not doing anything interesting.
< Not getting anything done.
1. R&D profile
2. Shift to learning opportunities
3. Commoditization
Confidence

44. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Risk profile)

45. > Losing money
< Opportunity to make better
Cost

46. > Losing money
< Opportunity to make better
1. Triage
2. Measure UX
3. Ruthless editing
Cost

47. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Risk profile)

48. > a. Kill yourself / Burnout
b. Long-term failure
< a. No one can work with you
b. Implicit promises.
Commitment

49. > a. Kill yourself / Burnout
b. Long-term failure
< a. No one can work with you
b. Implicit promises.
1. Steady pressure: 80/50 Rule
Commitment

50. > a. Kill yourself / Burnout
b. Long-term failure
< a. No one can work with you
b. Implicit promises.
2. Team drive commitments +
veto/review
Commitment

51. > a. Kill yourself / Burnout
b. Long-term failure
< a. No one can work with you
b. Implicit promises.
3. Provide problem and value to solve.
(Never solution)
Commitment

52. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Risk profile)

53. > Toxic environment
< a. No creative energy
b. No critical review
Conflict

54. > Toxic environment
< a. No creative energy
b. No critical review
1. Survey team constantly
2. Intra-team review comfort
3. Unfiltered feedback firehouse
Conflict

55. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Risk profile)

56. > Design by committee
< Pieces don’t fit
Cooperation

57. > Design by committee
< Pieces don’t fit
1. Practice leadership. Everyone is a
leader.
Cooperation

58. > Design by committee
< Pieces don’t fit
2. Champion for/of every feature.
Cooperation

59. > Design by committee
< Pieces don’t fit
3. Work backward from production
schedule
Cooperation

60. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
a. Example
b. Risk profile
c. Hard for me
d. Training
How I shore up my weaknesses.

61. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Hard for me)

62. Scale of communication.
- Unique per person: Want every
single person to have confidence.
Confidence

63. Scale of communication.
1. Leads needs to know messaging.
2. Easier for people to react. Make
commitments loud and early.
3. All the 1:1s
Confidence

64. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Hard for me)

65. Perception is reality.
- Subjective measures of value.
A. How much is 1ms worth?
B. How much is one person slightly
less frustrated worth?
Cost

66. Perception is reality.
1. Lots of surveys
2. Budget time for bunch of low-
hanging fruit
3. Budget time for optimization
sprints
Cost

67. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Hard for me)

68. Autonomy vs. Management
1. Self-burnout
2. “Oh yeah, that would probably be
pretty easy to do…”
Commitment

69. Autonomy vs. Management
1. Strongly encourage time off
2. We don’t want “heroism” – always
represent it as a problem to be
solved.
3. Examples of implied promises
Commitment

70. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Hard for me)

71. Not naturally “warm”
1. First instinct: “Suck it up.”
2. First instinct pretty much always
wrong.
Conflict

72. Not naturally “warm”
1. Time to build trust that I actually
care.
2. Ask if looking for suggestions or
advice.
3. Reminder perception problems are
real problems
Conflict

73. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Hard for me)

74. Timing
The next thing is always the most
important thing, ever.
Cooperation

75. Timing
1. Goal is to stay out of the way of the
next thing (demo, etc.)
2. Build reference targets
3. Dedicated resources to immediate
concerns
Cooperation

76. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
a. Example
b. Risk profile
c. Hard for me
d. Training
What I want to make sure team knows.

77. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Training)

78. How to pitch
What do I need to know most in
order to be confident?
Confidence

79. These things should be included in any
pitch
 Paint a picture
 Identify Value
 Identify Cost
 Identify Opportunity to Learn
 Strategy for Transition

80. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Training)

81. Cost/Value metrics
Can you articulate return on
investment (ROI)?
Cost

82. These things should be part of ROI
 Development cost
 Maintenance cost
 Cost of entry
 Efficiency return (if applicable)
 Player value (if applicable)
 Learning value

83. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Training)

84. Minimum viable product (MVP)
“You will be able to…”
Separate would-be-nice from
guarantees.
Commitment

85. These things should be part of
commitment
 Concrete changes (What will you be able to do
you can’t do now?)
 Problem and part of problem solved. (Not
tasks or tech description.)
 Clear expectations about what will not be
done.

86. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Training)

87. Clear expectations for values
Not about “changing your
personality” – about effectiveness and
what’s right.
Conflict

88. These things should be part of setting
clear values
 What do you believe?
 Connect to news / current events.
 Value expectations part of review/1:1 process
 Always know who will take action after conflict.

89. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
(Training)

90. Champion a solution
Follow through end-to-end.
Force sign-off to give yourself
confidence.
Cooperation

91. These things should be part of
championing solutions
 Articulate how the studio/games will be
radically different.
 Articulate why the change is important to you,
personally.
 Need to know how to gather support.

92. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context
Review

93. Your easy to remember “take
away”
0x999990
Review

94. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
*Context

95. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
CCCCC*C
*Context

96. 1. Confidence
2. Cost
3. Commitment
4. Conflict
5. Cooperation
CCCCC*C = 0x999990
*Context

97. 0x999990
Mike Acton
Engine Director,
Insomniac Games
@mike_acton
macton@insomniacgames.com