Short-sighted management - Creative Lead/Project Manager Studio 216 Employee Review

Excellent opportunity to flex creative muscles and work on groundbreaking new Mixed Reality features. Wide range of project types keeps things interesting. Friendly and highly knowledgeable co-workers - great to work among pros with extensive background and expertise. Regular meetings, great project management, extensive communication, and a suite of online tools helps set expectations and keeps things running like a well-oiled machine. Open office environment, with the occasional office dog - plus a $3000 espresso machine that makes those coffee breaks feel extra special.

Having many short-term client projects keeps things interesting but doesn't give much time to fully explore creative solutions or implement features that require extra time. Suggestion: build in some R&D dev time either for the client project or to explore between projects to add to in-house capabilities. No meeting rooms make private conversations or phone calls difficult, especially when it's raining outside. Suggestion: if possible, build a small meeting room - even if only big enough for 2 people. Urgent client needs or pressing deadlines sometimes translate working late nights or weekends. Suggestion: this one is difficult and often unavoidable - continue to manage client expectations while giving them a great experience!

I recently had a chance to work with my former employer, Studio 216, as a client more than a year after leaving the company. I currently work at a design firm and we contracted S216 to complete several rendering graphics. I was encouraged to see many of my previous concerns about my former role and the structure of the company were beginning to be addressed. For example, more levels of management and support staff had been inserted into the company structure to help manage deadlines, client correspondence, and more tedious technical tasks such as file prep and internal correspondence. The structure did not seem totally worked out, but was definitely a step in the right direction. I also appreciated the additional framework of clear deadlines and add-service agreements. When I worked for Studio 216, I often felt that timelines and contracts were out of my control as a project manager, which made it difficult to predict/control my own workload. This appeared to be much less of a problem now.

As a client I could tell there was still some level of disorganization in terms of communication and roles/responsibilities, but it was clear that many more systems were in place. I hope that these changes translate to a more direct feedback loop between project managers and those managing marketing, staffing, and finances, as this chain of communication was not functioning well when I was employed at Studio 216.