adminIndie game studio issues do not always fit neatly into a task tracker. While development tasks often have clear owners and solutions, concerns such as team tension, stalled business decisions, or uncertainty about a game’s core loop can be harder to address. When these problems stay unspoken, they may gradually affect the work and the studio’s ability to move forward. A shared process for raising and resolving issues helps teams deal with them constructively.
Image credit: Martijn van Zwieten
Indie game studio issues need a shared backlog
The first step is to give the team a clear place to record problems. When there is no obvious place to raise a concern, people may keep it to themselves or assume someone else will handle it. Create one shared, visible list for issues that are getting in the way of the studio performing at its best.
Invite everyone across the studio to add issues they cannot resolve on their own. This can include concerns from leadership, development, marketing, or other areas. Keep the list accessible, and make it clear that adding an issue is a way to bring it forward for discussion—not a promise that it will be solved immediately.
If you are building the list from scratch, a team SWOT analysis can help. Discuss the studio’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, then record items that are relevant and actionable. Weaknesses and opportunities may surface topics that need attention, while threats can reveal risks to discuss. Strengths are useful to recognize, but do not always require a specific action.
Review the list regularly and keep entries clear enough for the team to understand. A short description of the concern is often more useful than a proposed solution at this stage.
Make time to address studio problems
A list alone will not resolve anything. Add a dedicated slot for studio issues to regular team meetings, with enough time to discuss at least one priority. Treat it as a standing agenda item rather than an optional conversation at the end of a meeting, when people may be tired or focused on other tasks.
Before each discussion, choose an issue that the team can reasonably examine in the time available. If the topic needs more research or involves people who are not present, agree on how to gather that context and when to revisit it.
Use IDS: identify, discuss, solve
Conversations about studio-wide problems can easily turn into a fast exchange of opinions and proposed fixes. The IDS method—identify, discuss, solve—provides a simple structure to keep the group focused. It is described in Traction by Gino Wickman.
Before discussing solutions, make sure the team has identified the problem it actually needs to solve.
1. Identify the underlying problem
Start by describing the issue and asking whether it is the root problem or a symptom of something deeper. For example, a delay may be visible, but the team may need to understand what is causing it before choosing a response. Keep clarifying the concern until participants agree on what they are trying to solve.
2. Discuss the relevant context
Once the problem is clearly stated, gather relevant information. Ask what is already known, what has been tried, and how different parts of the studio are affected. Give the people involved room to share their perspectives, and avoid rushing into solutions before the group has a sufficiently complete picture.
3. Solve and agree on a next step
With the problem and context understood, consider possible responses and their likely impact. The group may reach a complete solution or only identify a partial one. Either way, finish by agreeing on a concrete next step, assigning an owner, and deciding when to check on progress.
Build a consistent problem-solving habit
A shared backlog, dedicated meeting time, and a structured discussion method work best when used consistently. Together, these habits help a studio bring concerns into the open, make decisions with relevant context, and reduce the chance that important problems remain unaddressed.
A studio’s purpose explains why it exists, while its long-term ambition and yearly goals help define its direction. Reliable issue-solving habits help the team respond when obstacles appear along the way. In that sense, addressing indie game studio issues is part of keeping the studio focused on its goals.
This week’s team exercise
- Build an issues list. Run a SWOT analysis together, select relevant and actionable concerns, and put them in one shared place that the whole team can access.
- Schedule time to work through an issue. At your next team meeting, choose a priority and use IDS: identify the underlying problem, discuss the context, then agree on a solution or next step and its owner.
Martijn van Zwieten is a business and leadership coach, and the creator of the FIRM and LoGOS studio management methods. He has coached over 150 CEOs, founders, and leaders to build better studios, ranging from indie darlings like Rusty Lake and Twirlbound to AAA powerhouses like Bethesda Game Studios and MachineGames.
