Mark Shaw
Flix Interactive
Mark Shaw is a Senior Producer with over a decade of experience leading complex projects across the creative industries. He began his career managing large‑scale projects at a typeface design studio, working with clients across global media and technology sectors.
Six years ago, Mark transitioned into the games industry, joining Creative Assembly to support teams on the Total War franchise. During this time, he developed strong expertise in AAA production, cross‑disciplinary team leadership, and the delivery of large, multi‑team pipelines.
For the past year and a half, he has served as a Senior Producer at Flix Interactive, supporting co‑development teams contributing to high‑profile AAA titles.
Mark Shaw is speaking at the following session/s
The Power of Stopping: Spotting a Sunk Cost Fallacy Before it Sinks your Project
It's no great secret that projects overrun, that humans don't always make good plans and even when they do, they are inherently bad at spotting when plans are crumbling around them.
How do you stop the train when it’s obvious that your project or feature is overrunning? Game developers are often left feeling powerless to stop or course correct in the face of overrun because they don't have the tools to confidently identify what is going wrong. This talk explores the deeper reasons behind project failure and explains the psychological and behavioural reasons why teams miss warning signs. It will look at the folly of a sunk cost fallacy as well as demonstrate how to ignore the instinct to keep digging when things are already going south.
Although external factors can often derail a project, this talk will demonstrate the tools that Producers and the wider development team can utilise to help guide the team in creating achievable goals, pivot in the face of changing priorities but most importantly, highlight when a project is overshooting the mark so you can pull the plug before it's too late.
Session Takeaway
1) Show how to make Scope drift visible: Being clear on goals and priorities.
2) Recognising that Sunk cost is not a reason to continue: How to decide on future value.
3) How to ensure you have a “kill-switch” process: Ensuring you have a culture that can use it.
Session speakers
