Game development is stressful. Running teams is stressful. Uncertainty makes us anxious. And as human beings we have a lot of default responses to this stress and anxiety, and most of them are about making it go away. But often we fool ourselves into thinking we’ve also solved the root problem when really all we’ve done is given ourselves a false sense of assurance, like taking painkillers when your leg is broken. Anxiety and stress are important indicators that can help us steer our actions, but first we have to learn to stay with them rather than reflexively pushing them away. In this session we’ll look at common cases of anxiety and stress in development and talk about the dangers of assuaging them and how to respond skillfully to them instead.
Panelist: Brian Sharp [Software Engineer, Moby Games]
Source: Brian Sharp