The essence of Gaming1 is its employees. In our Meet the G1 Team section, we are highlighting colleagues that we see at the Gaming1 Café, in one of our brainstorming spaces, or even at the Game Zone and who are an essential part of daily life at Gaming1.
Here they enthusiastically talk to us about their passions, their job, their values and much more. Basically everything important to them. Today, we meet Morgan, a Scrum Master in our Agile team.
Tell us about yourself. How old are you? Where are you from? What are your passions?
Morgan, 38 years old, I am from the Liège region.
My passions... there are lots of them! However, psychology and personal development have a special place in my life. I like to learn, through training and reading, again and again, whatever the subject. On the side, I like sports and particularly hockey which, even though I stopped after playing for more than 20 years, still has a special place in my heart. And then there is my motorbike and bicycle, for moments of solitude that revitalize you.
In terms of my journey, I briefly worked as technical support for a few months for Apple in Maastricht when I finished my development studies, before spending 13 years straight in the video broadcasting universe with other Liège companies who are leaders in their market. Almost 10 years ago, I discovered a methodology close to my personal vision of organizing work: Agile and Scrum. After being abandoned by the company, they relaunched the initiative a few years later by applying it to the whole of R&D, I naturally jumped at the opportunity to become a Scrum Master full time. Almost a year ago, wanting to explore other horizons and acquire more experience, I landed at Gaming1 who were, and always are, searching for this type of profile to accompany their teams.
Could you explain Agility at Gaming1?
Agility is a mindset, and at Gaming1 it is strongly linked to the professionalization of the company. By this I mean that Agility brings to light issues that everyone else was putting up with. And this therefore forces us to find solutions.
But we must point out that one of Gaming1’s biggest qualities is the proximity, availability and attentiveness of management. This really surprised me when I arrived and it is one of the strengths of Agility, favoring human interactions. So when management and top management reflect this value, it helps tremendously to move forward, and to do so quickly, as the business evolves.
To further describe the implementation of Agility at Gaming1, we have 4 main areas of activity, which each currently have 4 to 5 teams. These teams either work in Scrum or in Kanban, depending on their activity sector and the resulting constraints. We have recently started a training phase to prepare the quarterly plans for each sector so we can be fully efficient in 2022. And again, the speed of getting to grips with it is amazing. The teams have adopted this new process with great energy and commitment. The snowball effect further accentuates this, so very quickly, various departments asked to join these workshops. Therefore, we find developers and architects, as well as people from departments such as legal, compliance, release management, account managers, customer service, in addition to the traditional project managers. But, members of management also attend these workshops. And this allows us to very quickly achieve a common and transversal alignment between the development teams and all their stakeholders.
It is a continued improvement of the whole company. And this change that forms part of our daily life isn’t finished, but shhhh... it’s coming! 😉
What is your role as a Scrum Master? Your mission? And your team’s mission?
I like to sum up the role of Scrum Master in two words. Companion and gardener.
I’m going to start with the latter.
The gardener plants a seed, then it is the seed that develops and grows. So the role of the gardener is to give this seed the environment suited to their development, such as light, water, good soil, an appropriate temperature, but also protection from pests. In the end, if you correctly do your work, the seeds will grow without needing to force anything.
So this is how I accompany teams and individuals. Understand their needs, and help them grow to one day become autonomous when facing their own needs. On that day, the gardener can plant other seeds.
More concretely, if we take away the metaphors, on a day-to-day basis, it’s the facilitation between individuals and between teams. By facilitation, I mean interactions, processes, coordination, not forgetting listening. So that everyone feels comfortable in their place and avoids any unnecessary stress.
But our role doesn’t stop there, it also consists of helping the company as a unique entity to develop their functioning, while preserving and improving their internal microcosm.
How does a Daily Stand Up work at Gaming1?
Daily Stand Ups at Gaming1 are relatively individual to each team. Even if there are always the same base principles, such as giving visibility and bringing up impediments and other blocking points. The pandemic and remote working have changed the situation. Therefore, we had Daily Hybrid. Furthermore, Gaming1 gives a lot of freedom to their staff in terms of organizing their days. So it’s not unusual to do a Daily with someone remotely and an hour later, this same person is present at HQ. In order to avoid the traffic and allow staff to reconcile their family life with children and their professional life.
Talk to us about the culture at Gaming1. How would you describe it?
In a word, “Diversity”: the sum of all the individuals creates an explosive cocktail. Multicultural touches from all horizons are added to a background of Liège culture, and all these life experiences color and enrich the company.
Gaming1 culture is also mutual aid. Whatever the difficulty to overcome is, solidarity and union allows it to be faced.
And then, because gaming is part of the DNA, we are also able to celebrate our successes and victories, to release the pressure and get to know each other around a drink before moving forward even more united.
Finally, it is also the care given to the employees, by starting with listening to them. The work environment, which is just exceptional, as well as a multitude of free facilities (parking lots, train station just opposite, soft mobility, in the heart of a lively neighborhood and actively developing with advantages for the G1 employees). All these little daily things that, coupled with the flexibility our work offers, make us feel good.
Finally, what advice would you give to someone starting their career at Gaming1?
Earlier I spoke about a microcosm. It’s because Gaming1 is like a living creature, constantly moving and evolving.
That could be intimidating and troubling when finding your feet, especially during a lockdown. And to face that, HR, management and colleagues will be there for you.
It’s a company that is true to their business: double or nothing! Either it's not for you, and you'll have had an experience, or you'll have a great time in this playground which is just huge right now. My best piece of advice would be: come and have this experience and you will know if G1 is for you. A smile, a hello, a discussion and very quickly you will feel like you are part of this big family.
Does the Scrum Master position appeal to you? If you too want to contribute to the development of our company and its employees, aiding interactions between teams and become one of our ‘gardeners’, we actually have a Scrum Master position open.
Join Morgan to have the Gaming1 experience and meet all our other incredible colleagues.
