Time for talent with Celia Gonzalez
Meet Celia Gonzalez 👋 She’s one of our superstar Product Managers and we’ve asked her to share more about her work at Tactile and what she finds the most rewarding about her role. Also, don’t miss out on her advice for aspiring Product Managers!
Tactile: Hi Celia, could you tell us a bit more about what you do at Tactile?
Celia: I work as a Product Manager on Lily’s Garden team, focusing mainly on the new features. I work closely with game design to define the goals for the feature, how we can achieve them and what is the MVP (Minimum Viable Product) for testing the feature. I also work with developers and UI to ensure that the feature fulfils the set goals. Finally, I define how to test the feature and work with Data Science to analyze the data and to plan the next iterations.
Tactile: What was your journey to becoming a Product Manager?
Celia: I started as Data Scientist in the mobile games industry 8 years ago. As a Data Scientist, I learned a lot about games KPIs, monetization, user behaviour, A/B testing etc., and I discovered my passion for the product and for the industry. After that, the transition to Product Manager was quite natural for me.
Tactile: What do you like the most about the team you’re working with?
Celia: I love that everybody is really talented, and because we are a diverse team, I can learn a bit from everyone. I also like the work atmosphere, everybody helps each other and we work closely together to improve the game.
Tactile: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Celia: The best part is when a feature that we’ve been working on goes to production and we can see the results of our work. It’s amazing to see that something you’ve been a part of is now played by millions of users!
Tactile: For people who would like to start their career, what do you think are the most important qualities that every Product Manager should have?
Celia: I think a good Product Manager should have an analytical mind and a great understanding of the industry. I would recommend you to learn some SQL and analytics, play a lot of games and try to understand why users come back to a game, why they make a purchase, etc.
Tactile: When you’re not at work, you are …
Celia: Maybe grabbing a drink with my friends or running in one of the great Copenhagen parks, or maybe roller blading if the weather is good enough!
Time for talent with Anders Breum
Anders is s a Tactile veteran, a multitalented artist & designer, and an integral part of our story for the past 14 years. We asked him to share more about his role at Tactile, how it has changed over the years and what’s a piece of advice he’d give to aspiring designers looking to break into the industry 🙌
Tactile: Hi Anders, could you tell us a bit more about what you do at Tactile?
Anders: I work at Tactile as a UI designer. I work with maintaining the general UI and gameboard in our game Lily’s Garden. I also develop and produce new features and board pieces for the game.
Tactile: You have been at Tactile for almost 14 years! How has your role changed over time and what has kept you here for so long? 🙂
Anders: Oh boy! Has it been that long?! The company was quite small when I started – so I worked as a multipurpose artist. Doing a bit of everything concerning visuals. As the company grew I was able to specialise in the UI area. It has been really special for me to be a part of Tactile growing from the basement backroom of an art gallery to a 5 story building full of people! It is something that makes me very proud to be part of.
Tactile: What is the most rewarding part of your job?
Anders: As a designer, I am privileged to be part of many of the different processes in the development of the game. So seeing a feature move from idea to completely functional game is really rewarding. Also it sounds corny but teamwork makes the dream work! When everybody comes together from all the different disciplines to make something great and engaging. Nothing quite like it. You see your own contribution in the bigger picture.
Tactile: What do you think are the most important qualities that every UI designer should have?
Anders: Be able to take criticism. Don’t take it personal but use it to better yourself. Be curious about advances in your field of work. For me having a background in animation has been a huge plus. With animation you can make everything come alive and help facilitate the emotions you want the player to feel.
Tactile: When you’re not at work, you are …
Anders: I plunge head first into the role of being a dad to 3 great kids. That comes with multitude of benefits like drawing ALOT, playing video games and so on. Also I have personal projects I work on.
Time for talent with Preben Rosell
We’d like to introduce our Lily’s Garden Producer, Preben Rosell. Preben is one of the veterans here at Tactile, as he started almost 8 years ago as a producer on Bee Brilliant. Since then, he has been responsible for coordinating the production pipeline for Lily’s Garden. Preben’s colleagues would describe him as responsible, attentive and extremely supportive.
Tactile: Hi Preben, could you tell us a bit more about what you do at Tactile?
Preben: The producer role is quite diverse with many different (and at times changing) tasks, but first and foremost I help coordinating what the team should focus on and how they should structure their work. Furthermore, I am responsible for getting our weekly releases ready and tackling issues that may occur in our live game or in our production pipeline.
Tactile: How did your journey as a Producer start?
Preben: I have a background in game and level design, but by chance I was pulled into a hybrid role almost 10 years ago, in which I had the opportunity to work with project management. Although I had never planned for this, I realised that I really loved the work and when I a few years later got the opportunity to switch to a producer role, I went for it. Now I cannot imagine doing anything else 🙂
Tactile: For people who would like to start their career, what do you think are the most important qualities that every Producer should have?
Preben:
- A drive to improve processes – There is always some aspect there that can be improved, regardless of how well it worked last quarter.
- Be flexible – A producer’s role is ever changing with new tasks and responsibilities that comes with whatever the needs of the current project are.
- Good verbal and written communication skills – As a producer you will communicate with a wide range of people from a range of different disciplines.
- Solution-oriented – Look for solutions rather than problems!
Tactile: When you’re not at work, you are …
Preben: Besides spending as much time as possible with my kids, I love gardening, cycling and playing games.