Who Will Get the Axe?

[Charwoman Gene]

isn't that what we all always do? take the raw data of our senses, run it through the filters of our life experiences, while trying to be as objective as we can, and come to conclusions?

Well, if by "be as objective as we can", you mean "distort meanings and invent motivations", and by "come to conclusions", you mean "promote D&D is D0OM3D!" style scare-mongering I'd agree that's what some people do.

 

[jinnetics]

The people that management like? They get to stay.

Not to be snarky or anything, but that would seem to me to be the purpose of having management: someone to make those sorts of judgments.

 

[joethelawyer]

Well, if by "be as objective as we can", you mean "distort meanings and invent motivations", and by "come to conclusions", you mean "promote D&D is D0OM3D!" style scare-mongering I'd agree that's what some people do.

and thats your filter. and thats ok.

 

[Jack99]

basing it on his resume of where he worked which he posted over on linkedin.com, the various businesses he has been involved in, the roles he has played in those businesses, and his actions on getting fast bottom line results in terms of firing people and cosing down unprofitable lines recently. that and my own experiences tell me that he is bottom line oriented, rather than a visionary type of person. which fits he strategic direction i can deduce over at wotc: getting bottom line results rather than creating something new and revolutionary. which in turn fits wotc's role as a small subsidiary of a huge multinational conglomerate. so naturally i wonder if he has any experience playing dnd. plus i wuld guess that if this guy had any kind of personal background/experience with dnd or mtg, wotc would have touted that in their press release as a touchy feely selling point to the gaming community.

In my experience, a company is often better off having a "bottom line boss", as long as he leaves the creative thinking to the people actually hired to do just that. I do not want a WotC boss who spends his time considering class balance or thinking up how he can please all the gnome fans (yeah, all 5 of them ), Instead I want one that makes sure there is enough money to actually hire the talent, not just this year, but also the next year. Of course, you obviously see things differently. To each his own.

Cheers

 

[El Mahdi]

Oh how right you are! I have been in a multi-national corporation for 33+ years, and when some corporate executive gets his/her panties in a twist, or reads some new "cool" book, or hears a "wow" seminar, you can bet that it means jobs are lost at the peon level, either through "Resource Actions" (ie. layoffs), or jobs to India, Brazil, Argentina, etc.

Last year was the year of Lean, a manufacturing process. It translates very badly to Mainframe system support, but they did it anyway. Got rid of almost 30% of the folks through layoffs and transfers, bloody *BEFORE* the process was in place. *sigh* what a mess, but some corporate exec got a big bonus.

It's not even restricted to the corporate world. When I retired from the Air Force a year ago, they were attempting to incorporate LEAN concepts into Air Force operations and systems. 10 to 12 years ago it was the "Quality" initiative (Quality Air Force). I'm sure someone or someone(s) got their promotions to full bird Colonel and General because of these.

 

[joethelawyer]

In my experience, a company is often better off having a "bottom line boss", as long as he leaves the creative thinking to the people actually hired to do just that. I do not want a WotC boss who spends his time considering class balance or thinking up how he can please all the gnome fans (yeah, all 5 of them ), Instead I want one that makes sure there is enough money to actually hire the talent, not just this year, but also the next year. Of course, you obviously see things differently. To each his own.

Cheers

i agree with you on the bottom line as a necessity. but i wish wotc had sort of a steve jobs type visionary at the helm. someone who had big ideas and thinks his products are "cool". who take a hand in guiing development based on his vision. who pays attention to the product details as well as the big picture and bottom line, like jobs. and ultimately i wish wotc was its own company with a person at its head who could make these sorts of decisions without regard to the parent company's bottom line. if big daddy has a bad year, junior has to slash costs/people to do its share to make up for it.

i see this guy leeds has a marketing background. that means branding. i have been thinking about the relationship between branding and hobbies lately. i wonder if the branding concept works the same for hobbies as say branding and bandaids, for example. i mean, you buy tylenol for the brand, even though the pharmacy has a pill with the exact same ingredients at half the price. you just want that tylenol brand. same for a lot of things. you pay for the name.

marketing has been all about branding branding branding in recent years. that's all you hear about and read about in business journals. meaning the value of a thing isn't necesaarily the component ingedients of it, but the name recognition and the associated feelings that name brings up in consumers who make a purchase based on those feelings. the value is subjective.

so when i see a marketing guy brought in, i immediately think he is going to be brand focused, rather than focused on the ingredients. i looked back at al the news articles he had been quoted in throughout his career on the nexis news databases, and he always mentions brand brand brand. and i think for samsonite or gi joe toys that works fine. but for hobbies in general, and dnd in particular, i think the details of the product are the crucial comonents of sucess.

i hope 4e succeeds. because even though its not my cup of tea, it will draw in new gamers, and that is what this hobby needs more than anything else. those new gamers will then be exposed to other systems, and maybe try them out, keeping the other lines going along, thus keeping my favorite systems in business (castles & crusades and pathfinder).

i guess i just have concerns if the guy in charge is all about the branding aspect and the bottom line, and not the nitty gritty of the product. i wonder if he has a big picture vision. or if he is going to regurgitate what the standard jargon and plans h learned in mba school.


that why i asked in my original post if he has a background in dnd. i want to know what perspective he operates from.

 

[Charwoman Gene]

but i wish wotc had sort of a steve jobs type visionary at the helm.
...branding branding branding...

Re: "D&D Steve Jobs"

Critically needed. But someone would have to basically be like a gamer who has a massive windfall to spend on an investment that could massively lose money. Buying a "brand" from Hasbro will prove problematic. I agree that it is exactly what D&D needs. I know I'd try to do that if that much money fell on me.

Branding has been a psycho-religion at WotC since before they bought TSR. Peter Adkison, was all crazy about branding.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

Not to be snarky or anything, but that would seem to me to be the purpose of having management: someone to make those sorts of judgments.

Yes. However, how objective are they? Have you ever been denied a promotion and seen a superior's favorite employee get a raise, an office and have nothing to do? Then while you're killing yourself for results, said favorite botches things that would get you on warning or fired and there are no repercussions of any sort?

That's Corporate America! There's at least 30% common sense in there somewhere.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

I read this as "I'm just making this up because it reinforces my own preconceived notions" YMMV.

Wait. He referenced a lot of other valid points. I recognize the attack method - pick out one thing that's arguably wrong (or at least harder to defend) and go after it - but I think the rest of the research is important and relevant.

 

[Eridanis]

Remember to keep it civil, folks.