Meet the Magnopians: Pam Peterson
Pam started in the games industry back in 2009, working in Quality Assurance at Bizarre Creations on titles including BLUR and James Bond: Blood Stone for PS3 and Xbox 360. In 2016 she joined REWIND as a Producer and has worked on a variety of projects spanning AR, VR, and mobile applications, including Dubai Expo Xplorer 2020, and Bride of Frankenstein holoride. During her time at Magnopus, her projects have won six awards, including an XR Award, CogX Award, Lovie Award, and Webby Award.
What do you do at Magnopus?
I’m a Program Manager, so my job is to help oversee and coordinate various projects and products. Once our Producers have spoken to the clients, I then figure out how we’re going to make it all happen. It’s a lot of planning and spreadsheets!
How did you end up in this role?
I originally started as a Balancer in the game industry, helping studios set the difficulty of the game, then worked my way through QA, Production, and then Program Management. It wasn’t deliberate, I didn’t go to University, and I happened upon the balancer role through a friend. All these years later I’m still here, so I guess I’m doing something right!
What three skills are essential for anyone in your role?
Patience is a huge one. There are times in any role when you find yourself frustrated by things or people, and you have to have patience to work through it. Nothing good ever came from shouting or being angry!
Another skill is the ability to listen. As a PM you have to learn to listen to those around you in order to solve problems. By listening to everyone, you can arrive at a solution to the problem more easily.
And lastly, acknowledging that you don’t always have the answer. This is one that took me a while to accept because people assume that PMs know everything all of the time (we wish we did!). The most important thing is that you go and find out those answers from the people that do know.
What’s been your favourite project to work on?
My favourite has to be The Bride of Frankenstein holoride with Universal Pictures. We created a pioneering in-car virtual reality experience, that used holoride’s technology to match the driving data from the car to the VR content, such as steering, acceleration, and braking. It made for an amazingly immersive experience.
What is one app, or software, you couldn’t do your job without?
I need three things to get me through the day: Google Calendar, Miro, and Jira. I spend a lot of time in meetings so without Google Calendar I wouldn’t know where I’m supposed to be! We have a hybrid workforce working across two continents so apps like Miro became really helpful for our teams to brainstorm ideas and plan things – I love to use pictures, sticky notes, and more to do this. Jira and I have a love/hate relationship…if it went away I dread to think what my life would be like, but it does also have its quirks.
What are you reading/listening to right now?
I’ve just finished the Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes which is a prequel to the Hunger Games trilogy. It's really great if you’re a fan of the franchise because it offers more of an explanation for President Snow’s behaviour and his origin story. The movie is coming out later this year, and watching the trailer made me want to read the book first.
If you could have any other job in the world, what would it be?
I’d totally be a dog photographer. I love to take photos of wildlife and dogs while on my morning runs. Getting to hang around with dogs, pet them, give them treats, and spend time with their owners sounds perfect to me. (In this alternate universe I’m also pretending I don’t have a dog allergy.)
