Last week, we established what a studio is, and how understanding its core components can help you find your studio’s purpose. This week, we’re going to start on the FIRM framework proper, starting with the first pillar, which concerns your studio’s future. Because the next most important question after “why do we exist?” is “where are we going?”
Deciding as a team where you want the studio to go in the future is one of the most important acts of alignment in any studio. Whatever long-term goal you define will set the boundaries for every other decision you make from that point on. We’ll look at this first, before discussing how to use that long-term goal to set better yearly goals.
The long-term goal: Your BHAG
A helpful tool for thinking about your studio’s future comes from Jim Collins – the same Jim Collins we borrowed the Hedgehog Concept from last week. In his 1994 book Built to Last, Collins coined the term Big Hairy Audacious Goal, or BHAG (pronounced “Bee-HAG”) for short. Through his research, Collins found that this singular, clear, and ambitious goal for a company’s future is one of the things that separates sustainably successful companies from those that flounder.
Whenever you make a big decision, your BHAG gives you a frame to evaluate it against
A well-defined long-term goal like the BHAG complements and supports your studio purpose, and fulfils a similar role: it helps you make better decisions, attract the right people, and be more intentional about what you do and how you do it. Whenever you make a big decision for the studio – for example, deciding what your next game should be, whether to self-publish, or what the right team size is for the studio – your BHAG gives you a frame to evaluate it against. You simply ask, “Does this get us closer to where we want to go, or not?”
Finding your BHAG is relatively simple, thanks to an exercise devised by Collins himself. Start by agreeing on a date in the future: the 10–25 years suggested by Collins is an eternity in our industry, and through my work I’ve found that 5–10 years works well for most studios. Then, each person on the team writes a brief article that will be published on that future date. Be specific in the details: where is the article published? Is it on Game Developer, GamesIndustry.biz, Forbes, or Quote? Think about the main reason the article is being written: what milestone warranted this specific article? Include as many details as you can about what the studio has achieved by then, and why they matter to the overall trajectory of the studio.
Then, gather as a team and read these articles to each other, discussing which elements resonated, where you might already be in agreement, and where your opinions differ. Finally, discuss which of the shared achievements would make for the best overarching goal. You’re looking for something ambitious enough to stretch you, specific enough to mean something, and resonant enough that everyone in the room feels it.
There are no right or wrong answers here. For some studios, their BHAG might be expressed in downloads or units sold, for others it’s being recognized with an international award, and for others still it’s measured in their impact across the industry. Whatever your goal turns out to be, make sure it’s clear and compelling, measurable and, crucially, between 50% and 70% doable. This ensures that you have to put genuine effort into reaching the goal, stretching you beyond your current capabilities.
The yearly goals: Making progress real
If the BHAG is the summit of the mountain you’re trying to climb, yearly goals are like the camps you pitch on the way. Yearly goals help you transform the ambition of your BHAG into traction by defining the major steps needed to get there. They keep your team focused on the things that truly matter and help you stay accountable, and the mere act of figuring out the goals that matter helps to foster alignment.
Setting five to seven goals forces you to prioritise the things that actually matter
For most studios, I’ve found that the sweet spot is somewhere between five and seven goals for the year. Fewer than that and you risk setting the bar too low from the outset; more than that and you risk spreading your efforts too thin to actually finish the things you started. Five to seven forces you to prioritise the things that actually matter, and that you can actually finish. As a rule, you’re not done until you’ve cut something that, after discussion, turns out to be a nice-to-have rather than a must-have.
When everyone agrees that you’ve identified the right goals for making progress towards your BHAG, and that hitting these goals would constitute a successful year, you know you’ve got the right list.
Intentional work follows intentional goals
Your purpose is the reason your studio exists. Your BHAG tells everyone where the studio is going. And your yearly goals state what you’re finishing this year to get there. Together, these three things form the spine of intentional studio leadership, and help you transform from reacting to outside forces to proactively shaping your own future.
This week’s homework
Together with your team, work through the following:
- Find your BHAG. Agree on a date in the future, and each write a brief article detailing the things you’d want to have achieved by then. Share your articles, find the common threads, and work together to define one overarching long-term goal that everyone can rally behind.
- Set your yearly goals. With your BHAG in mind, define between five and seven goals for the coming year. For each one, ask yourself: does achieving this bring us meaningfully closer to our long-term goal? If the answer is no, reconsider whether it belongs on the list.
Next week, we’ll get into the second pillar of the FIRM framework, and look at how to surface and solve the issues that inevitably get in the way of your studio’s progress.
Want the full FIRM framework with step-by-step implementation instructions? Visit martijnvanzwieten.com/firm to download the free template.
Martijn van Zwieten is a business and leadership coach, and the creator of the FIRM and LoGOS studio management methods. He has coached over 150 CEOs, founders, and leaders to build better studios, ranging from indie darlings like Rusty Lake and Twirlbound to AAA powerhouses like Bethesda Game Studios and MachineGames.