作者：Clinton Keith

工作室文化或风格是否能够衡量？获悉若干简单工作室文化参数是探究其内在优劣势的重要前提。文章主要探讨是否存在系列工作室风格参数，通过参考著名Myer’s-Briggs Type Indicator（游戏邦注：即MBTI职业性格测试）论述具体参数内容。

MBTI from personality-types.com

我已使用MBTI职业性格测试问卷调查十几年，测试旨在通过四组参数“测量人们认知世界和做决策时的心理倾向”。

我发现这是帮助人们同思维感觉相差甚远群体进行沟通的有趣工具。结果也许有些极端，但MTBI测试有趣之处在于其结果的一致性。测试结果显示我属于INTJ型（游戏邦注：即内向、直觉、思考、判断），但当MTBI测试受训者和我沟通几分钟后告诉我，我属于INTJ型时，我非常惊讶。此外，TypeAlyzer之类的在线工具分析我的博客后显示，我是INTJ型。

过去4年，我曾担任十几家工作室的独立培训师和教练员，我发现某些普遍模式，我觉得我可以把这些模式转化成类似MTBI测试的机制。经过研究，我发现若干参数模式，但其似乎都不适合游戏开发工作室。

这个指示标准应该是什么样子？其衡量标准的范围应和MTBI一样，要有4组二元选项或参数选择。MTBI的二元选项是：

1. 外向（E）–（I）内向

2. 实感（S）–（N）直觉

3. 思考（T）–（F）情感

4. 判断（J）–（P）知觉

MTBI二元选项没有积极或消极倾向，这些选项的含义同日常生活所指大不相同。例如，当我首次听到我偏内向时，我一点也不相信。我觉得“我一点也不内向，我经常和大家交流！”但后来我开始了解更多有关这些参数选择的信息：

* 外向者是行动导向，而内向者是思维导向。

* 外向者追求知识和影响的广度，而内向者追求知识和影响的深度。

* 外向者通常偏好频繁互动，而内向者则偏好实质互动。

* 外向者通过同他人共处补充能量，而内向者通过独处补充能量。

读完这些内容，评估结果听起似乎颇有道理。最后它使我开始参考对方性格倾向同其沟通，基于对方性格特点完善沟通过程。

MTBI参数选择并不绝对。MTBI的各组偏好选择具有数值范围。通常你会发现自己比较靠近中间位置，就像我处在外向和内向之间一样。

如何借助工作室风格指示标准？其价值何在？下面是些相关看法：

* 是收集员工反馈及衡量其对工作室看法的渠道

* 能够定位大型公司中的各个工作室，进行相互比较

* 能够衡量工作室自创始来的发展过程

* 发现不和谐模式

MTBI的价值在于它提醒我们，每个人的思维和沟通方式都各不相同。同样，工作室指示标准能够提高公司构想和愿景的辨识度，因而促进公司职员就此发展目标展开沟通和定位。

那么工作室衡量的4组最佳二元选择是什么？下面我将陈述自己的看法。

1. 过程：正式/随意——规定你工作方式的规范和制度是否清楚明确，或每个项目组在开发过程中是否自己决定如何制作内容？

2. 领导阶层：魅力型/等级型——工作室领导权或愿景是由1-2率直人员把握，还是源自一组等级有别的领导者？

3. 特性：惯性/探索型——工作室是通过之前的成功定位自己，还是基于公司发展愿景。

4. 指导：自我引导/外部引导——工作室是受自身决策引导（游戏邦注：如第三方独立开发商），还是隶属更大母公司，由母公司做出系列高级决策？（本文为游戏邦/gamerboom.com编译，如需转载请联系：游戏邦）

Can There be a “Studio Personality” Indicator?

by Clinton Keith

Can a studio’s culture, or personality, be measured? Having some simple metrics of a studio’s culture might be a useful starting place to discuss its strengths and weaknesses internally.  This article poses the question of whether a set of metrics is possible and what they might look like by taking a lesson from the popular Myer’s-Briggs Type Indicator.

For the past dozen years, I’ve used the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MTBI, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator) questionnaire, which is “designed to measure psychological preferences in how people perceive the world and make decisions” through a simple four part metric.

I’ve found it to be an interesting tool that helps people  communicate with others who all think and feel differently.  The results can be taken too far, but one of the most interesting things about the MTBI is the consistency in its results.  I’ve always been measured as an INTJ by the test, but have been surprised when people who are trained in MTBI tell me I’m an INTJ after a few minutes of conversation.  There are even tools online, like TypeAlyzer (http://www.typealyzer.com/), which tell me that I’m an INTJ when it analyzes my blog (http://blog.agilegamedevelopment.com/)

After spending the past four years working with dozens of studios as an independent trainer and coach, I’ve seen common patterns and I’ve come to feel it’s possible to categorize these patters into an MTBI-like system.  I searched around and found a few candidates, but none of them seemed ideally suited to game development studios.

What would such an indicator look like?  It should probably start at the same scale of the MTBI and have four dichotomies, or preference-pairs.  The four MTBI dichotomies are:

1. Extraversion (E) – (I) Introversion

2. Sensing (S) – (N) Intuition

3. Thinking (T) – (F) Feeling

4. Judgment (J) – (P) Perception

The MTBI dichotomies lack any positive or negative bias, which is often different from our daily use of these terms.  For example, when I first heard I had a preference towards introversion, I didn’t believe it.  “I’m not an introvert” I thought, “I talk to people all the time!”, but then I read more about these preferences(from Wikipedia):

* Extraverts are action oriented, while introverts are thought oriented.

* Extraverts seek breadth of knowledge and influence, while introverts seek depth of knowledge and influence.

* Extraverts often prefer more frequent interaction, while introverts prefer more substantial interaction.

* Extraverts recharge and get their energy from spending time with people, while introverts recharge and get their energy from spending time alone.

The assessment didn’t sound so wrong after reading that.   Eventually it led me to try and improve communication with others based on the preference they seemed to have relative to my own.

MTBI preferences aren’t absolutes either.  The MTBI provides a scale between the preference-pairs.  Very often you might find yourself near the center between them, as I was with extroversion and introversion.

How would a studio type indicator be used and what would its value be?  Some ideas:

* A means to collect feedback from employees and gauge their view of the studio

* To characterize multiple studios within a larger organization and compare them

* To measure the evolution of a studio from its founding, onward

* To identify dysfunctional patterns

The value of the MTBI is that it reminds us we all think and communicate differently.  Similarly, an equivalent studio indicator would raise awareness of the assumptions and vision of an organization and hopefully lead to meaningful conversation and alignment of that vision among everyone in it.

What would be the best four dichotomies for a studio indicator?  I came up with a list, but I’d like to find out what other preferences developers think belong here.

1. Process: Formal/Ad-Hoc – Are the practices and rules that govern how you work very clearly spelled out or does every project figure out how to build a game on their own while its being created?

2. Leadership: Charismatic/Hierarchical -  Does the true leadership and vision of a studio reside with one or two outspoken people or does it emerge from a group of leads who occupy positions in a hierarchical structure?

3. Identity: Inertial/Exploratory – Does the studio uniquely identify itself from its past successes or is it based on a vision of what it wants to be?

4. Guidance: Self/External – Is the studio guided by it’s own decisions (e.g. a 3rd party independent) or is it owned by a larger parent company that makes many of the higher level decisions for it.

This is a first-pass list of dichotomies and I have to admit I’m not completely thrilled with them.  What different dichotomies should be in this list?  What would you think is necessary to include to describe your studio?  How should this indicator be used?（Source：gamasutra）