

Leave The "Business Guys" Alone Already - Felix21
http://felixoginni.com/leave-the-business-guys-alone-already/

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MaulingMonkey
Maybe I'm an outlier here in game development, but "clueless kids" are the
rule, not the exception, and nowhere near rare. Companies bin entire
unsolicited design documents without even reading them because those ideas
have negative expected worth: Increased chance of lawsuits, to a field rife
and bountiful with ideas from people who've actually worked in the field and
have some idea of what might work and what might not. Good ideas are as
important as the air we breathe, but just as ubiquitous. They join our
communities with those same ideas, offering $0 (not merely "reduced") wages,
bringing no experience to the table, whether that be business acumen,
marketing experience, writing artistic or coding skill... no finances as an
investor, no guidance as someone who's already been in the industry, nothing.
All for the promise of some nebulous undefined profit sharing on some idea
they won't share a scrap of. Ostensibly to protect the idea from theft, of
course, but leaving you with no idea if you might be interested even if they
_were_ offering something more.

Suggesting they learn to code might be inappropriate, but pointing out they
need to be able to bring something to the table besides "ideas" -- any of the
above skills would be a great start -- is exactly the sort of "sensible
advice" called for, but that's often not enough to get through and make the
point. When people start throwing around how much they're paid, they're trying
to underscore what the "ideas guy" is competing with, to explain _why_ that
idea alone just isn't enough. When people start getting frustrated, angry, and
ranty, perhaps it's because this isn't as rare as the author thinks. It
certainly isn't rare in game development. Maybe a different approach would be
appropriate, starting things off on "the right foot" by focusing on what they
can bring to the table first, rather than the business opportunity. Resumes
may get binned too, but not at the 100% rate. Focusing on the person rather
than the idea also lets you focus on if you'd be a good fit for _any_ project,
rather than tossing one idea at a time their way... or if they're such a great
fit you'd be willing to find a different business opportunity that suits both
of you.

~~~
Felix21
You have made a very great point, and i certainly was not aware that this
"idea guy" problem is this bad in game development.

 _Maybe a different approach would be appropriate, starting things off on "the
right foot" by focusing on what they can bring to the table first, rather than
the business opportunity. Resumes may get binned too, but not at the 100%
rate. Focusing on the person rather than the idea also lets you focus on if
you'd be a good fit for any project, rather than tossing one idea at a time
their way... or if they're such a great fit you'd be willing to find a
different business opportunity that suits both of you._

I think if this is the common response the "clueless kids" get, there will
much less clueless kids in the world. This response is infinitely more
valuable than insults and rants.

------
Deejahll
A "business guy" complains about developers allegedly making contemptuous
generalizations about clueless business guys by making contemptuous
generalizations about developers.

He assumes that the reason that we who know how to write software don't
(generalism) do his job is because we're "blind to those opportunities."

He sees himself as the architect and software developers as the grunts who lay
the bricks.

~~~
jrs235
His whole analogy of architects and builders falls apart once you realize as
an architect of a business you have much less control and information as to
what the market will actually do!

A building architect can design and make a blueprint based on knowing the
qualities of various materials and a final outcome/design. That design isn't
likely to change [much] after it is approved, unless the architect omitted
something (or screwed up) or there are material issues.

Most ideas presented to 'coders' are half-baked. "I have this awesome idea!
Let's build a building! With four bedrooms that will sleep a family!" "That's
quite the well thought out blueprint there! Where do I start building?!"

~~~
Felix21
_Most ideas presented to 'coders' are half-baked. "I have this awesome idea!
Let's build a building! With four bedrooms that will sleep a family!" "That's
quite the well thought out blueprint there! Where do I start building?!"_

Does that make it justifiable to respond with insults?

------
Longlius
"You can code now shut-up about it already. You are a great developer and I am
a great businessman; I have my skills and you have yours (well actually I now
have yours to some extent)."

Really? I don't think so.

HN isn't populated exclusively with code monkeys. A lot of us have solid
educational backgrounds, including some with graduate degrees and published
research. To imply that you have our skills to 'some extent' is pure hubris on
your part.

~~~
ericclemmons
My experience with "business people" almost always seems to be adversarial, as
they tend to see the relationship in much the same way: combining mutually
exclusive skill sets.

The problem is, developers are often very opinionated product guys, and they
can execute! They typically don't have the insider knowledge on securing
funding and navigating business politics.

The problem finally emerges when the developer is seen as only the executor of
the vision, rather than a business man as well.

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justjimmy
Just a suggestion - run your articles through a spell checker. Makes it more
credible when you share it with HN.

~~~
Felix21
Thanks for the advice but a spell checker wont have picked up on the fact that
I spelled Jeff Bezos's name wrong, which after looking at my article again is
the only spelling mistake i spotted

~~~
Adrock
Also, you should be consistent with your grammar. Capitalizing everyone's
first and last name except for "bill gates" in the middle stands out as
sloppy. For better or worse, this affects the impression you make.

------
aethertron
First I was surprised that this was on the svtble network. (Then I looked
again.)

------
joelmaat
No.

