Hannah Lea Wood
Project Manager//People Leader
Scroll down
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
|---|
I'm a Development Director with Electronic Arts' Tools and Technology Team.
I enable teams of talented developers whose mission is to deliver world-class tools and technologies to our game content creators across the globe.
The images above are just a small selection of games my work has supported.
"You cannot manage men into battle.
You manage things; you lead people."
- Grace Hopper
Replace “battle” with “shipping a product,” and I think that about covers it. Processes and policies are important to product and project management. They help keep things organized, and they help keep you efficient (and sane)—but they aren’t what makes games. Your team makes games. Your humans.
My role is all about keeping humans happy, engaged, and growing—which keeps pipelines flowing, creators creating, and technology leap-frogging—all to help games get going. In short...
I strive to enable creative humans to do what they do best.
I guess want to be like Gandalf. The fellowship (my team) has got to get the ring (the product) to Mordor (shipped) before all hell breaks loose. I'm there to usher them onwards, console the fearful, and, if I must, sacrifice myself to that balrog (...only without leaving them to fend for themselves for an extended period of time). I know I'm doing it right when my team trusts me, seeks my support and coaching, and allows me to partner in their careers. I support them as they grow and become self-sufficient in hopes that, at first light on the fifth day, they won’t need me…but I’ll still be there in the east if they do.
I'm Hannah Lea
...but my teams call me The Brood Mother
With 10 years in the gaming industry, I’ve supported titles ranging from top-tier mobile to international AAA IPs and developer pipelines ranging from simple, reliable scripts through cutting-edge procedural and generative AI tooling. I've been an artist, a producer, a project manager, and a process creator, but my great love is leading teams by supporting humans.
I'm still playing Skyrim (and you can't stop me).
I play a male hrothgar in Final Fantasy 14, and I'm not ashamed about it.
I spend too many hours in The Sims, but only to build cute houses.
I will always choose to play the sniper or the sneaky archer—and I'm not certain what that says about me.
I also love drawing, creative writing, and playing string instruments.
I make too many lists, and Excel is my best friend.
I refuse to eat anything that lived in the water at any point in its life.
I have 2 loving partners and 3 mischievous cats.
And I can't wait to meet you!
RESUME
SKILLS
-
Project and Budget Management
-
People Leadership and Career Coaching
-
Agile Development: Scrum, Kanban
-
Microsoft and Google Suites
-
Jira, Asana, Monday, ProductBoard, ShotGrid
-
Confluence, Coda, Miro
-
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Acrobat
-
Perforce
EXPERIENCE
ELECTRONIC ARTS (EA)
June 2022 – present
Development Director II
-
Overseeing project management processes across the department, driving consistency and accuracy in reporting across all products within a central technology team
-
Maintaining sections of the departmental budget, upholding reasonable spending habits, and ensuring equity of resources across our teams and individuals
-
Identifying staffing gaps, leading hiring initiatives, and training new hiring managers
-
Owning departmental product portfolio reviews and critical all-hands meetings
-
Supporting a large team of direct and skip-level reports by providing feedback and coaching and supporting their career growth and aspirations
-
Championing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives by revising hiring practices, advocating for equitable career-growth opportunities, encouraging participation in Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), and coaching ERG leadership
June 2019 – May 2022
Development Director
-
Built capacity plans and monitored project progress for delivery and review each quarter
-
Worked with technical directors and product owners to drive the metrics gathering, reporting, and analysis processes
-
Supported a team of direct and skip-level reports (software engineers, technical artists, data scientists, development managers) by providing feedback and coaching, and supporting their career growth and aspirations
-
Championed inclusion and career growth for EA women by leading the local chapter of the Womens’ Employee Resource Group, and helped achieve company diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives by collaborating with local and regional leaders of other ERGs
June 2019 – May 2022
Development Director
-
Built capacity plans and monitored project progress for delivery and review each quarter
-
Worked with technical directors and product owners to drive the metrics gathering, reporting, and analysis processes
-
Supported a team of direct and skip-level reports (software engineers, technical artists, data scientists, development managers) by providing feedback and coaching, and supporting their career growth and aspirations
-
Championed inclusion and career growth for EA women by leading the local chapter of the Womens’ Employee Resource Group, and helped achieve company diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives by collaborating with local and regional leaders of other ERGs
December 2013 - September 2016
Project Manager, Mindwalk Studios
-
Managed over a dozen outsourced teams of artists and animators by facilitating communication, organization, and accountability between outsourcers and production teams, thus establishing a high standard for management that became expected of our studio
-
Motivated and supported teams to ensure client and project goals, milestones, and deliverables were met, resulting in strong, long-term client commitments and trust
-
Created and implemented new processes, SOPs, and communication standards that led to company-wide efficiency increases. Many of these processes were also adopted by full-production studios and became required for other outsourcers
June 2013 - December 2013
Production Intern, 2Dawn Games
-
Facilitated communication across all departments to ensure project goals and milestones were met
-
Facilitated the use of an agile development system, and helped establish accountability
-
Helped identify roadblocks, bottlenecks, and their solutions, leading to a more efficient team
EDUCATION
June 2013
Savannah College of Art and Design
Bachelor or Fine Arts, Interactive Design and Game Development