February 14, 2008: Chorus: We Are Admin, See Us Plan!

The non-gaming part of running a game business is . . . well . . . running the business. Last week we put a lot of time into our more-or-less-biennial SWOT process. SWOT stands for "Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats." It's a technique for looking at where your business is, where it ought to be, and where it will go if you don't look out. (If you want to learn more about SWOT, Google is your friend.) It's interesting, sometimes a bit painful, and in the past it's been well worth the time.

One of the big weaknesses we identified has now been dealt with. We didn't have a succession plan. Now we do. Phil Reed, our Managing Editor, has not only run his own company, Ronin Arts, for years, but has been running our creative staff for several months. He is now officially the #2 Guy and Boss When Steve Is Out. The official title is "Chief Operating Officer." If I get hit by a bus, he's the one who will pick up the pieces. I shall try not to make that necessary.

And my Report to the Stakeholders is getting its final tweaks. I expect you'll see it tomorrow. (Here's last year's report.) Executive summary: 2007 was a good year. Thanks for helping us make that happen.