What’s going on with the community manager position for CS?
As an executive, what contributions, decisions, and day to day overseeing do you do? Is there anything specific that you are proud of achieving?
How are Manager promotions handled? Who has a say and how often are they considered?
EdgeGamers didn’t have a dark mode for many months, from my perspective it took another member creating a substitute for Tech to actually focus on it, and they were able to make it within a week. I‘m not calling anyone out, but what are your thoughts on the delay, timeframe, and reaction from Tech?
Thank you for doing these, it’s always a pleasure to read these.
What’s going on with the community manager position for CS?
Stability. Being a Community Manager is a significant jump in responsibility. Not only are you the one who is ultimately accountable for your area of responsibility, you're expected to pick up additional projects that help EdgeGamers grow outside of your specific game or team. You're expected to juggle at a rapid pace all while having a player base point their fingers at you because they want things done their way and they feel you're not delivering. It's one of those thankless jobs where you've reached the top and no matter what you do there will always be more people who want to gripe to you rather than express their appreciation. What I am getting at is this - we've learned it is never a good idea to throw anyone to the wolves. When selecting a Community Manager we need to make sure that our selection is not only an expert of their field of responsibility (like Counter-Strike) but is also ready to contribute on an even larger level looking at full community growth. We don't want to select someone just to fill a spot and say we've got someone at the table. We want to make sure we have the right person, at the right time, not only for EdgeGamers benefit but that persons individual benefit as well.
Counter-Strike is going through a transitional period where we are seeing the movement from a Leader who had served in the role of Sr Manager and Community Manager for a longer period of time to a Leadership team who needs to get their footing and start to run. I can say - they're doing a fantastic job of doing that right now. The team continues to evolve and the Sr Managers become more comfortable with their new responsibilities as well as them potentially seeking to add new faces to the team. In time, we (the Community Management team) will land on an individual who fits the responsibilities while it being right for them personally and right for their team for them to step up to the CM team. We're fortunate that we don't have to make hasty decisions, especially when we have Community Managers (and the Director of Operations) assisting the CS team daily.
As an executive, what contributions, decisions, and day to day overseeing do you do? Is there anything specific that you are proud of achieving?
In my post as CEO I find myself being deferred the work the rest of the team doesn't want to do. Like announcing the Leadership Member of the Year last night. I asked everyone who wanted to announce it and they all said "defer." Bunch of jerks.
Jokes aside, I mainly focus on the business front of EdgeGamers while Adam, Don and FirezFury typically focus on the day-to-day. The business front being monitoring our financial situation, exchanging emails with potential partners, identifying global initiatives that need immediate or long term attention, and providing out goals to our Community Management team. While I try to be an "influencer" and steer our leaders in the right direction, I definitely still find myself in the "doer" mode where I am involved (sometimes too deep) in some of the regular happenings across the community. If I see something that I can jump into and resolve, or assist, I typically wont hesitate.
The best achievement is when people express appreciation for what the community is about. I've received many messages from our members on what this community has done for them personally and professionally and it's extremely rewarding to see the power our community has to promote good for people. Whether they were helped through a tough time by our member base's positivity or people were offered professional real-life opportunities because of their administrative, leadership, or technical experiences they gained here, it's always amazing to hear these stories. When someone reaches out and says they're thankful for EdgeGamers, it keeps me going.
How are Manager promotions handled? Who has a say and how often are they considered?
Managers are selected by the Leaders who will have to work along side them on a daily basis. Team cohesiveness is important and finding the emerging leader that can rock the responsibilities they are giving while being a team player that fits in well with the other leaders is something that is looked for. Typically, Sr. Managers will express that there are gaps that need to be filled seeking insight from the other Managers who would be the best to fill the gap. From there, the Sr. Managers will bring the candidate to the Community Management team for awareness and end approval. All candidates are posted in the Community Management forum so we have eyes on who our leaders are, how they will represent us, and what they will be doing to help EdgeGamers grow. Typically, after 48 hours in the Community Management forum the Sr Managers are informed they've got the green light to promote the candidate to Manager.
Along the way are there people who don't make the cut? Yes. We need to make sure we have the right players on the field representing our team. Sometimes, there's concerns that are brought forward from the Sr Managers or the Community Managers that will hold an individual back. It's the responsibility of the Community Management team and the Sr Managers to work with that person and develop a plan that gets them to where they need to be. If they've made it to the Community Management forum they've got talent. We need to work with those people to get them what they need to eliminate any doubt from the higher levels of Leadership.
EdgeGamers didn’t have a dark mode for many months, from my perspective it took another member creating a substitute for Tech to actually focus on it, and they were able to make it within a week. I‘m not calling anyone out, but what are your thoughts on the delay, timeframe, and reaction from Tech?
Tech is reliant on people resources. Very limited people resources. The work they do requires someone to step up and volunteer to take on some significant responsibility. Sometimes, it takes a public stunt to get someone new to step up and do the work. It would be great to have a week turn around on most projects in the community. What would help with that is some of the individuals who sit in the bleachers observing the game to have the willingness to try out, throw on a uniform, and join the team. Tech is the most important aspect of our community and they're significantly under staffed for the workload they have. Until we get more personnel, things will take time.
I am fine with the delay, time frame and reaction from tech, as long as there is communication from our tech team makes it to the Leadership team on what they're doing and what that time frame is.