Indie studios get stuck on problems that do not belong in a normal development ticket: tension between teammates, a publishing deal with no clear owner, or uncertainty about whether the game’s core loop works. The practical remedy is a single, visible studio-issues backlog and a repeatable meeting process that turns each item into an owned next step.
This approach is outlined in Online Tech Guru’s Part 3 guide, updated 14 October 2026. It uses IDS—Identify, Discuss, Solve—from Gino Wickman’s Traction to stop cross-functional problems becoming endless debates.
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What belongs in a studio-issues backlog?
Keep this list separate from the game’s ordinary task backlog. Development tickets describe work such as implementing a weapon, fixing a crash or authoring a level. Studio issues are obstacles to the organisation performing at its best, especially when they cross disciplines or have no obvious owner.
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- Team tension that is affecting communication, decisions or delivery.
- A publishing conversation that has stalled because responsibility is unclear.
- Uncertainty about whether the game’s core loop is fun or commercially viable.
- Any problem a team member cannot resolve alone and that needs a leadership, design, production, marketing or business decision.
Make the list shared and visible to the whole studio, including leadership and marketing. Visibility prevents important concerns from remaining in private notes and lets the group see which problems are blocking progress.
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| Implementation | Typical result |
|---|---|
| One shared backlog that everyone can add to | Problems are visible, prioritised and assigned in a common forum. |
| Scattered personal lists or private messages | Issues are duplicated, forgotten or raised only when they become urgent. |
The tool can be a simple shared document, board or issue tracker. The method matters more than the software: every item needs a clear description, a place in the priority order and an owner once the team decides what to do.
How to create the initial list with a SWOT analysis
If the studio is starting from zero, run a team SWOT session. Ask the team to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, then extract the items that are both relevant and actionable.
- Collect observations. Give every discipline time to name conditions that help or hinder the studio.
- Sort them into SWOT categories. Strengths provide useful context; weaknesses, opportunities and threats are more likely to produce immediate issues.
- Turn observations into problem statements. For example, “publishing talks keep stalling” is more useful than “publisher problem.”
- Remove items with no practical action. Keep a concern only when the studio can investigate, decide or change something.
- Publish the resulting list. Invite additions whenever new issues emerge rather than waiting for the next formal review.
A SWOT workshop is a starting point, not a one-time annual ritual. The backlog should change as the project, team and external relationships change.
Reserve issue-solving time in every team meeting
Put issue solving on the standing agenda with protected time. Treating it as the final item “if there is time” guarantees that routine updates will consume the meeting and the difficult problems will roll over again.
A practical meeting sequence
- Review the most important current priorities and any actions that are due.
- Open the studio-issues backlog and select the highest-value issue the group can address in the available time.
- Run that item through Identify, Discuss and Solve.
- Record the decision, the next action, the responsible person and any follow-up date.
- Move unresolved items back into the backlog with a clear reason, rather than letting them disappear into meeting notes.
Do not attempt to solve every item in one meeting. Consistent, focused time is more useful than occasional marathon sessions.
IDS: Identify, Discuss, Solve
IDS gives a fixed order to conversations that otherwise drift toward premature solutions. The sequence is attributed to Gino Wickman’s Traction.
1. Identify the underlying problem
Agree on the problem beneath the visible symptom before proposing a fix. A useful test is to ask whether the group has described a condition that can be changed, rather than a person to blame or a solution disguised as a problem. The guiding principle is: “Before you discuss anything, spend time making sure you’re actually solving the right problem.”
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2. Discuss the relevant context
Bring the facts and perspectives needed for a decision:
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- What each person knows, including constraints and dependencies.
- What the studio has already tried and what happened.
- How the issue affects production, design, technology, marketing, finances or team health.
- Information that could change the group’s understanding of the problem.
Hear relevant viewpoints before jumping to solutions, but keep the discussion tied to the identified problem. If new information reveals a different underlying issue, return to Identify and restate it.
3. Solve with an owned next step
Choose a full or partial solution that the studio can act on now. State the next step in concrete terms, assign it to one person and record when it will happen. The owner may need help from others, but one named person must be accountable for moving the action forward.
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Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why IDS prevents endless problem debates
Unstructured meetings commonly mix three different activities: defining what is wrong, exchanging context and selecting an intervention. Participants then argue over solutions while disagreeing about the problem, or leave with a list of opinions but no commitment. IDS separates those activities and ends with an explicit owner and next action.
| Question | Disciplined practice |
|---|---|
| Where is the issue recorded? | One shared studio backlog rather than private lists. |
| When is it addressed? | Protected time on every regular team-meeting agenda. |
| What happens before solutions? | The group agrees on the underlying problem. |
| How does the conversation end? | A full or partial solution, a concrete next step and one accountable owner. |
Three issues to practise on
Team tension affecting delivery
Identify the observable work impact, such as decisions being reopened or feedback being withheld. Discuss the specific interactions and prior attempts to improve them. Solve with an agreed behaviour, facilitator, conversation or working agreement, owned by a named person.
A stalled publishing deal
Identify the actual blockage—missing materials, unresolved terms, a delayed response or absent decision-maker. Discuss what has been sent, who has authority and what the publisher needs next. Solve by assigning one studio contact and a dated communication or internal decision.
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Doubt about the core loop
Identify the uncertainty precisely: retention, comprehension, moment-to-moment fun or a technical constraint. Discuss existing playtest evidence and what has already changed. Solve with a bounded prototype or playtest, an owner and a decision date.
Homework for the next week
- Run a SWOT session and publish the actionable weaknesses, opportunities and threats as the first version of the shared issues list.
- Add a fixed issue-solving block to the next regular team meeting.
- Select the most pressing item and take it through Identify, Discuss and Solve, recording the owner and next step before moving on.
In the wider FIRM sequence described by business and leadership coach Martijn van Zwieten, purpose defines the studio’s “why,” while the BHAG and yearly goals set direction; issue-solving habits keep that direction from being derailed by unresolved obstacles. The source describes van Zwieten as having coached more than 150 CEOs, founders and leaders—a biographical claim reported by Online Tech Guru, not an independently verified methodology or denominator. The series next previews quarterly rocks as the next FIRM pillar.
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