We are awfully reactionary and conservative as an industry compared to other tech industries.

To be honest, I’d like to know why we’re so slow to adapt to new ways of doing things and why we’re not able to make them stick if we do try out new methods and ways of working.

Do you not believe this is true?

In that case I encourage you to look at how far ahead mobile games are compared to triple-A when it comes to adoption of new and emerging disciplines in tech. If I say UX is still a new and emerging discipline, those outside the gaming field will scoff and say “we don’t call it UX anymore, it’s now product management or experience design”. If I say we still use badly cobbled together Scrum to produce games, people outside the industry gives me a blank stare followed by an incredulous “Scrum!?”.

My point is that we are really bad at adapting to new ways of working, new processes and new disciplines. I don’t believe for an instance that this inertia is because “games are hard”. I believe “games are hard” because we intentionally or unintentionally stick with the old ways of working, the longing for a place where things are familiar and “creativity” has the front seat, where “creativity” – in a slightly hyperbolic statement – needs to be “unrestrained” and “free”.

The problem with unrestrained and free creativity is that it’s neither. It’s a misconception that a “creative environment” without a framework is more creative than an environment with structure and process.

I know I keep harping on about this but the industry will need to change in order to survive. So far, we’re not. We’re still clinging to ways that are inefficient at best and destructive at worst.

“Why don’t you start your own company?” You might ask. Because I’m not an entrepreneur. I’m an analytical, critical, super introverted individual who wants to improve the way we do things.