growing a successful culture at a new location v10

Growing a Successful Culture at a New Location

Learnings and Opportunities

Background • BioWare joined EA in early 2008 after more than

a decade as an independent developer• Our second studio in Austin was well underway,

focusing solely on Star Wars: The Old Republic• For Dragon Age and Mass Effect, we felt we

could justify growth, but how? And where?

Growth for RPGsGrowth plans were reviewed, with options:

1. Continue growing in Edmonton2. Grow in a new location3. Combined strategy of of #1 and #2

To make our decision, we had to go right to our core values

Vision & Values• Our guiding principles from the very first days

of BioWare• Critical to:– Pursue our growth strategy with these values in

mind– Seed any future locations with these core values

Vision

Create, Deliver, and Evolve the Most Emotionally Engaging Games in the World

Values1. Quality in the Products2. Quality in Our Workplace3. Entrepreneurship

All in a context of humility in integrity

Plus Some More• “No play, no say”• “The closer you are to the game, the more

important you are” – inverted org chart (managers support team)

• “We are only as good as our next game”

Growth Strategy• After reviewing, we felt strongly that we

needed another location in addition to growth in Edmonton

• Next question was, where would our third location after Edmonton & Austin be?

Candidate LocationsThree locations were short-listed (alphabetically):1. Montreal2. San Francisco (EA campus)3. Vancouver• All had existing large & successful EA

presences with multiple teams

Selection CriteriaWe built some selection criteria, including:

– Access to local talent– Desirability to transfer– Cost of living– Available space in EA location– Impact to existing locations– Long-term viability– Cost-base to run the studio– Plus many, many others

We looked at a LOT of variables!

DecisionIn the end Montreal won out, thanks largely to:• Access to local talent - Vancouver market was very crowded

when we did our analysis• Location – Montreal is on the east coast, balancing Edmonton &

Austin, and a perceived draw for European talent• Familiarity – We had several senior leaders (including Yanick!)

from Montreal• Cost-base – MMTC helps the overall cost structure along with

decent rental costs, etc.

Now What?• With the choice of Montreal made, we

needed a plan to start and grow the studio• On to Montreal!

In the beginning…- September 2008

- March 2009- August 2009

Importance of our cultureMakes us BioWare

More than a sign on our door

Cannot be put in a box

Even the details matter

Defining Culture“The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices

that characterizes an institution, organization or group”- Wikipedia

– Historically determined– Socially constructed, defined by the people– Soft, changing, malleable, evolving– Paradoxically difficult to change, composed of too many

factors which are almost impossible to determine

In other words…

“the way things get done around here”

Deal T.E. and Kennedy, A.A.

How to transplant a culture:1. Make a big announcement2. Hire 150 people over the first few months3. Trust they will integrate our values

How did we do it?

By taking slow, deliberate steps, valuing “doing it right” over doing it quickly and/or cheaply

The steps…1. Leading2. Seeding3. Filtering4. Integrating5. Protecting

…in action1st year anniversary:

77% BioWare Edmonton veterans, 23% newcomers

2nd year anniversary:66% BioWare Edmonton veterans, 34% newcomers76% more than 1 year at BioWare, 24% less than 1 year at BioWare

3rd year anniversary:58% more than 1 year at BioWare, 42% less than 1 year at BioWare

Easy!

Some challenges…

Different people

Different environment

…and a big one

Asking high-performers to progress slowly and carefully

And some mistakes

• Assumptions about transfers• Assumptions about hiring• Lack of clear timeline• Underestimating remote development challenges

Long distance relationship• Working so closely with Montreal had an impact on

Edmonton– Budgetary restrictions (especially during the global

recession)– Edmonton team members perceived Montreal’s growth

was at their expense at times• Needed to evolve the Edmonton culture at the same

time to grow past these

The recipe

Don’t rush itSweat the small stuffNever compromise on your values

Where are we at?

• Team tamed distributed development challenges• Hard at work on Mass Effect 3• Set up for accelerated growth• A real BioWare studio• Ready for next challenges

Tomorrow

In charge of our own project

Growth, leading to autonomy

Cutting-edge technology

A real BioWare team, in a real BioWare studio, doing real BioWare games… 3,750 km away from where it all started!

Contact Info• Aaryn – aaryn@bioware.com• Yanick – yanick@bioware.com• http://www.bioware.com/careers/

Moustaches Info• Aaryn – Doing it out of sympathy!• Yanick – http://mobro.co/Yanick