At companies (both inside and outside the videogame industy) that I've worked at, management has made at times made short-sighted mistakes. It even happens at small companies that start off with the best of intentions–the pressures and realities of running a business cause founders to lose sight of their initial ideals. In case I ever start my own company, I want to do my best to prevent losing sight of my ideals. A good way to do that is to write them down and make them public. So, here goes (in no particular order)…

Do not work overtime unless absolutely necessary.

I'm tempted to write "Do not work overtime" *period* and leave it at that; but in practice, overtime will be unavoidable on occassion. The problem is that companies that start off with the attitude "only a little overtime" begin to see a lot of elasticity in "a little"–then the overtime just grows and grows until it becomes stifling.

Buy the tools that your employees need.

Some tools seem very expensive, but the reality is that employees are the most expensive part of running a business, and the right tools will help them be more productive. Your employees will also get a morale boost, which is hard to quantify but nonetheless important.

Promote talent and find ideas within your company.

Of my mantras, I think this is simultaneously the most obvious and the most often overlooked by management. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen companies hire an "expert" from outside the company when there were many people already at the company that could fill a position (and be very happy to do so). Often the "expert" takes forever to get up to speed on the current project or is just lazily resting on his laurels. An outsider, no matter how "expert", is still an unknown. An internal person with a track record (even if he doesn't exactly match the prerequisites of the job) is innately more valuable.

This also applies to ideas. For example, in the videogame industry, almost every single employee has one or more novel game ideas. It's the nature of the people who join our industry–their dream is to create something new and interesting. But, rather than tapping that talent pool for ideas, upper management will stick to old formulas and to a very few "ideas people". Sometimes they'll even go to outside sources for half-baked ideas.

If I'm ever involved with a startup, I want to work on methods to encourage all employees to bring forward their best game design ideas.

Don't forget your roots.

There's probably a reason you're thinking about going off on your own to found a new company/partnership. Perhaps managment had lost touch with reality. Perhaps they don't pay you what you are worth. Perhaps they think copious unpaid overtime is the status quo for all sentient beings. Whatever the reason, it's your roots.

And, guess what?

About ten years ago, the people you work for were probably in exactly the same situation as you, but now that they've "made it big", they've lost touch with their roots and have unwittingly passed the baton to you.

Don't do this to your employees. Remember (or better yet, write down) what happened to you. Be on the lookout for situations that will result in the same treatment of your employees and have compassion for their situation, otherwise, you will lose them just as your employer lost you.