Don’t be too polite in vetting people. I don’t mean to be rude with your language, just be direct and make sure you get the information you need to be confident they are the right fit for the job. This can be as simple as having some lengthy phone conversations.
It doesn’t matter how a person acts or communicates when they’re comfortable. What matters is how they operate under stress. You cannot accurately predict this. Therefore, the safest thing to do is not enter any binding contract with a person until you’ve been through the shit with them and know if they are reliable. (or vet them through other people)
Don’t give up ownership. Only give responsibility to proven leaders, and only do so with clear contracts. The best coder/artist in the world can absolutely fail as soon as they get decision making responsibility. It is a different skillset. Many people perform great as followers – and every team needs people like this. Beware the person who is a follower by nature but insist on being a leader. As is said in the military, “Lead, follow, or get the hell out of the way.”
Don’t make assumptions about what your partners/employees know or understand. Communicate everything and test for understanding. Always test.
Beware the person who gets impatient with communication redundancy. If they don’t understand why it’s important, they are either dumb or inexperienced.
If somebody has bad habits or gets complacent with communication, have predefined repercussions for dealing with this in a way that maintains mutual respect throughout the team. This is a way to squash many issues before they arise.
Most of my work life has been in military or other high-risk jobs. I think in game studio, the way people communicate and treat each other is very different. But I say beware the person who wants to get all chummy right away. It is hard to work professionally with relationships like that. I think it’s better to be friendly, sincere, honest, but keep a distance between self and coworkers. Professionals understand what kind of relationship is best for getting the mission accomplished. People who want to get too lax at work are more the types who make great government workers. You know, do almost nothing but show up everyday to collect the paycheck.
In a partner, obviously the first checkbox is they have to demonstrate they have the appropriate skills that your project requires. I think the next important thing to test is that they consistently go out of their way to make sure they understand and are understood. Personally, I don’t give a shit if person is polite or friendly. But if I explain something half-assed and they aren’t asking questions to clarify what I meant, I know there is going to be issues down the line. This is a good test to put people through. Give them a task but don’t explain your standards completely. See what they do.
The last most important thing is you want somebody with a demonstrated body of work that shows they finish work and have some degree of self quality control. You can of course motivate and push a person to go a bit beyond what they usually do, but that is not ideal as it takes energy you could be putting elsewhere.
The very best coworker/partner is somebody who, by nature of their own example, motivates and pushes you, as well as creates new opportunities for project growth, foresees issues, and takes personal interest in whatever work they are doing.
You can find artist by finding work on artstation you like and then emailing them. If you post “help wanted” ads on job boards, you will get a lot of crap to filter through.
