Electronic Arts

The Project Manager (PM), also called Development Director (DD) at EA, is a critical role and responsible for ensuring the successful delivery of a game, on time and within budget. Prior to production they carry out a detailed analysis of the game design and work out the project ‘milestones’ (specific targets that have to be met by certain dates), agreeing upon these with the key technical and creative managers, such as the Game Designer, Art Director and Lead Programmer. The PM/DD then works out a schedule for the project and decides the personnel and equipment needed.

Once development is underway, the DD monitors the team’s progress against the schedule. They must be able to prioritize when production deadlines are a concern, manage risks, and plan for contingencies. Finally, the PM / DD is responsible for all people management on the team and is tasked with motivating and developing all staff under their management including career development.

 Key responsibilities include:

 Project Management
· Responsibility for establishing an overall project schedule based on the individual task estimates; determine the resource requirements to meet the task requirements; validate task duration and determine task dependencies; establish a budget for each task, determine task dependencies, and assign tasks to team resources as appropriate; establish test plans / success criteria for each task;
· Managing the change request process; decomposing change requests into component tasks, and of estimating the impact of each change request on project schedule, budget, and resources; communicating to project stakeholders the impact of each requested change, and produce a work breakdown structure from a design document;

 Staff Management
· Provides inspiring leadership by proactively meeting or communicating with employees individually to monitor and prevent potential problems or concerns; reward and recognize performance and provides coaching on performance related issues; monitors workload and recognizes extra effort with praise and discretionary rewards;
· Participates in development of retention programs; works with team members to develop and pursue a career action plan and identifies potential growth opportunities; provides team members with information on self-study, courses and training opportunities; participates in employees performance evaluations; participate in the recruitment of new team members; reviewing resumes, interviewing and assessing candidates;

 Leadership
· Ensures adequate equipment, tools and support are provided for team members;
· Enhances personal understanding of the production process and actively offers input;
·Provides input for departmental planning (i.e. resource planning, cost estimates etc.); can facilitate process improvements across departments; shows comfort in moving beyond micro-management of junior staff and directs delegated responsibility effectively

What skills does EA look for? An EA Development Director is expected to possess: