Episode 292 | Amir Fassihi - Study Love

Guest:

Amir Fassihi

@ahfassihi

Amir Fassihi talks with Dave Rael about game development, learning, teams, mythology, psychology, love, and self-awareness

Amir Fassihi fell in love with videogames while living in Japan in the 80's and experiencing the great games of the original Nintendo Entertainment System (or as called in Japan, Famicon!). A dream of making great games such as the Dragon Quest series initiated from back then. Later, he tried some Apple 2 games and then PC games. He always tried to find material to study about making games however he could get them (and all this is before the internet era). He got interested in computer programming seriously during high school. Another important part of his life is basketball which he played seriously during high school and university and for some time after graduation. I was part of the National Youth Basketball team of Iran and also a member of the university national team. He has learned big lessons from basketball that apply to work, teamwork and management. His current passions are leadership and teamwork concepts, video game development and some psychology related topics. He tries to read all kinds of books, as much as he can. He's playing less basketball these days and running is the replacement. Amir is married and has a 9 year old son.

Chapters: 2:01 - Dave introduces the show and Amir Fassihi5:20 - Amir's gradual transition from being an individual contributor to an organizational leader9:19 - Lessons from sports applied to business, software, and life12:26 - Amir's international and multicultural life experience14:27 - The challenges of game development that set it apart from developing other types of applications21:50 - The nature of game design and comparing game designers and user experience designers and web designers24:51 - The things that "light Amir up"26:37 - Amir's experience with gaming and growing up in different parts of the world and games and game development in Iran28:46 - Market conditions for game development as compared to line of business31:16 - Amir's story of failure - taking on an ambitious game project as a first effort without commercial success41:28 - Amir's son as game crtiic43:34 - Amir's book recommendations48:14 - Amir's top 3 tips for delivering more value58:21 - Keeping up with Amir

Resources: Amir on LinkedIn Dead Mage Herding Cats: A Primer for Programmers Who Lead Programmers - J. Hank Rainwater Non-functional requirements Garshasp: The Monster Slayer (The Dead Mage Video Game) Garshasp (Mythological Hero) Assassin's Creed Call of Duty Project management triangle Thomas Watson on firing an employee who had a costly mistake Bonsai Trees Super Mario Odyssey Toy Story The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering, Anniversary Edition (2nd Edition) - Frederick P. Brooks Jr. An Article on Google's "Project Aristotle" Psychological safety Mithra - Persian God Responsible for Contracts

Amir's book recommendation: Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration - Ed Catmull Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success - Adam Grant Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't - Simon Sinek Find Your Why: A Practical Guide for Discovering Purpose for You and Your Team - Simon Sinek

Amir's top 3 tips for delivering more value: Study love more Know yourself better